World liberators
by Ghost rider 1-3
Summary: The sequel of Path of a jedi. For details read the first chapter. Expect Legends characters in this story. Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars Rebels or any of its characters. I do not own the format of the introduction or the cover image either. Please leave a review and tell me how I did.
1. Chapter 1: Introduction

A long time ago, in a galaxy, far far away...  
STAR WARS  
EPISODE III.V  
WORLD LIBERATORS  
It has been two  
years since the  
second battle of Lola  
Sayu. Jedi knight Ezra  
Bridger has finally returned  
to rebel fleet Phoenix squadron.

But with the GALACTIC EMPIRE in  
hot pursuit, the rebels must now gain  
further reinforcements or new allies to  
prevent their downfall and annihilation.

Now, the Ghost crew are to liberate the  
slave empire of Zygerria to gain the support  
of the unfortunate slaves. Their fate remains  
unknown...


	2. Chapter 2: Infiltration

Galactic date: 12 December, 2 BBY

Location: Zygerria orbit

A corellian VCX-100 entered the queue of traffic above Zygerria. It was painted brown with a tiny starbird signature on its hull. Inside rested the Ghost crew, a rebel cell tasked to liberate the planet by all humane means.

Kanan, the leader of the cell, leaned against one of the supply crates and briefed the crew. "Alright listen up! Sabine and Hera will be disguised as slaves to help us maintain a low profile. Once we're on the ground we'll rendezvous with Kontari, our Zygerrian contact. Ahsoka and Rex will be here tomorrow, 09:00. Then we can discuss our next move. Zeb will take over the ship and regroup with the fleet. And chopper! Take care of Ramin."

Ramin was Kanan's one year old twi'lek son. He had experienced plenty of battles with the rebels and Phoenix squadron, although he was a child. Ezra constantly tried to teach him the ways of the Force since he believed Ramin was Force-sensitive, but there had been no developments so far.

The repainted Ghost landed in an empty airfield. Sabine was wearing a dress that made Ezra struggle not to let red flow through his nose. Kanan didn't seem to have any problem with two exposed women in front of him though, likely because he got used to sleeping with Hera.

"How long is the walk?" Ezra groaned impatiently as the crew walked along the streets of Zygerrian. His nose was getting more and more unstable every second. It felt like his blood vessels in his nose are about to explode. "It won't be long Ezra. Relax." Replied Kanan. He had no idea what was causing Ezra to have an interior havoc.

"Easier said than being done, master." Ezra used the Force instead of his own eyes to guide him through the trip to avoid staring at Sabine for too long. But he never regretted to get involved in this mission. There was a bigger purpose behind all of this.

They entered an alley. It was dark and smelled like a trash compactor. Kanan knocked on a door next to a pile of garbage. The door hissed open moments later, and the crew entered, trying not to draw attention from the people on the streets.

"Good to see you." An old Zygerrian with crutches greeted them. Ezra couldn't help but groan, "Finally! My nose was about to blow up!"

"Sometimes blending in the environment is difficult." Kontari chuckled. "Anyway take a seat."

The crew gathered around a table and grabbed their seats. Ezra kept his nose covered the whole time. "Sunstorm. A slave syndicate. Close friend of the Emperor himself. You'll have to get to him first if you intend to bring down this empire. He'll be attending a summit in the palace tomorrow 09:00. That's your chance."

"Thanks Kontari. I will disguise myself as a Zygerrian with the chameleon devices Kontari gave us. Ezra and Sabine will establish overwatch in this building." Kanan said as he pulled out a hologram and displayed a map of the palace and all nearly buildings. "Once the meeting starts Ezra will identify the leader and stun him. That's when Hera comes in. She'll free the slaves in the palace and distract the guards while I secure the VIP. Any questions?"

"No. Under the condition of not to cause me another nose bleeding rampage." The whole room paused, and broke into laughter seconds later. Ezra held his head with his hand. He still couldn't understand how Kanan nailed it off without going on a bleeding spree.

"You still remember the battle two years ago?" Kanan asked after everyone settled in to their new hideout. "Yeah. But mostly the what-for." Answered Ezra. He knew many things happened at that time. Him discovering his love of Sabine, and his master having his new family, for real.

"You're getting closer, Ezra." Kanan said. "Closer to what? Defeating the Empire?" Ezra sounded confused. They've had some victories, but the Empire wash rowing stronger every day, every moment.

"You need a direct attack." That was the last sentence his master said before he went back to his room to check his gear. "A direct attack. A direct attack. What does that even mean?"

"A direct attack. A direct attack..." Hera punched him in the should with no warning. "That's how Kanan got my attention." Ezra's mind was blown. He had no idea about the meaning behind all this. "Come on Ezra, the answer must be obvious..."

Meditating. That was the first thing he thought of to help him find an answer. He sat on the floor and crossed his legs. He closed his eyes and let his mind roam free.

He saw people, people he couldn't recognise. He then came across a list with words that made no sense to him. He scanned the list again, and realised the words were actually names, names of all the people he met in his whole life. He 'scanned' the list, it scrolled itself down. It went faster and faster, and there was no sign of stopping.

The list suddenly stopped. Ezra was now staring at a name, Jaden. Jaden was one of the cadets that went to the Lothal imperial academy with him. Word had that he dropped out days after Ezra escaped the dreaded place. He was a Mandalorian, just like Sabine.

Ezra took a closer look at the name and noticed his full name. Another one of his noble thoughts flashed by his mind. He activated his comlink and hailed the Liberator. "Is commander Sato here?" "I'm speaking. What is it?" Said a voice from the other side. "I need you to do me a favour, commander."

Sato knew Ezra well. To him, Ezra was a great warrior, cunning, but a man with honour. He would do anything to help his friend. "Anything General." Ezra's voice came from the speaker. "Contact the Skirata and Wren clan on Mandalore. There's someone I need to speak to."

Meanwhile, aboard the star destroyer Dominate...

A man with a scarred face marched into a dark room. He went to his knees and said, "You summoned me, Master." A hooded figure marched out from darkness. It wasn't anyone else, it was Vader. "The inquisitors failed my demands. Your training is complete, my apprentice. The rebels are currently on the planet Zygerria. Blend in with them, and wipe them out. Good luck, Marek."


	3. Chapter 3: Marksman

Galactic date: 13 December, 2 BBY

Location: Hideout

Kanan lay in his bed, unable to fall asleep. He had been thinking a lot lately, especially the death battle on the volcanic planet of Lola Sayu. Never did he knew that this will mark one of the greatest moments of his life. He still had no idea how a salvage mission of his apprentice became his military wedding.

A grunt came from outside the room. Followed by another. Soon the place was filled will grunting and sounds of punching. Kanan rolled over his bed and found the source of all the racket. He saw his padawan standing at the corner of the room, throwing punches on a rugged sandbag.

"Can't sleep?" Asked Kanan. He wondered why was Ezra up in the middle of the night. "Yeah. Couldn't stop thinking about the events on Lola Sayu." Ezra paused and grabbed his body glove. "I've been thinking, master. About the 'direct attack' thing." Kanan looked at Ezra. He was surprised it only took him hours to figure out his message. "So what did you come up with?" He asked.

"Well...maybe we should free Mandalore. They get the freedom they deserve. We get a powerful ally. Win-win." Kanan couldn't believe his ears. When he first met him in the streets of Lothal three years ago, he was a selfish person that cared of nothing but himself. Now he's volunteering to liberate a whole planet of his enemy, the Mandalorians. _He's changed a lot._ Thought Kanan.

"Kid, I know you're doing this for the good of the people. Here's the thing: You are gonna get killed the second they know you are a jedi. We drove them to near extinction thousands of years ago. They see us as their greatest enemy. You can't just go in there and kill every stormtrooper on that planet." Ezra crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. He knew deep down, his master was right.

But he wasn't dumb. There's a reason he contacted only the Skirata and Wren clan. "Kanan, I'm not a kid anymore, and I know what I'm doing." Ezra wore his body glove and went back to his room. He left a question before he left, "Can we talk about this after we get rid of this slave empire? I don't want to be distracted." Kanan replied "Alright. If you say so."

Four hours later, aboard the Kanera...

Zeb was at the bridge with Chopper and several admirals. He was assumed second in command while Kanan was down on Zygerria. He's still trying to figure out how to get revenge on the droid when a dot appeared on the radar of the battleship. Apparently it was an escape pod. "Commander Orrelios, they're trying to contact us." An officer said. "Patch them trough." Ordered Zeb.

"May...sssh...my name...sssh...Galen Marek...please he...we've been...by imperial crusiers...the only one left." Zeb may be a grumpy person, but even he would always offer a hand for people that have problems with the Empire. "Send a shuttle to retrieve the escape pod." said the Lasat, having no idea he was bringing a double agent aboard their best ship.

The shuttle came back with the escape pod minutes later. Zeb was about to start asking questions when Wolffe appeared from nowhere. "Let me do the talking." Said the clone. "You'll get your chance Wolffe. I have a feeling he's more than just a fellow running from the Empire. Besides, I do have a scary face." Wolffe reluctantly agreed. He went to check the pod for booby traps while Zeb brought him to an interrogation room(with nothing but chairs) for questioning.

Meanwhile...

Ezra and Sabine lay on the roof of a building next to the palace. The two waited as Zygerrians plopped down around a well-decorated table for the meeting. "I got Kanan's signature, no sign of Sunstorm." Said Ezra. "Guess we'll have to wait for quite a while." He continued.

Sabine always loved Ezra. He was the one and only person that would give his life for her without asking at all. She wondered how Ezra's life was like before he met the crew. _He lived on his own since he lost his parents. He didn't deserve that._ A cancer was buried in Sabine after the second battle of Lola Sayu. "How could I ever repay him? After all he did for me?" Sabine whispered under her helmet.

Ezra could feel her distress. His sensitivity has grown over the past two years. Now he could read one's mind like Kanan did when he trained Ezra. "You looked troubled. You ok?" Ezra broke the silence between the lovers in war. "Yeah. I'm ok. The meeting's starting." Replied Sabine.

Ezra tuned his sniper scope. Kanan activated his recording device and his comlink to keep Ezra updated on everything going on inside the room. "So, shall we begin?" Said a Zygerrian.

"I am proposing a plan to build a weapons factory in the Kadavo system. It will be three times bigger than the one rebuilt three years ago. When complete, we shall receive more than 100000 various weapons per day." Another Zygerrian said.

"The Sunstorm would gladly agree. If we didn't already have a factory on Kadavo." Replied a slave trader at the Zygerrian's opposite. While the scumbags debated, Hera disguised herself as a slave and snuck into the palace.

"This is Spectre 2, I'm in. Do you have eyes on target?" Asked Hera. Ezra pointed his rifle at the Zygerrian that revealed himself to be the leader of Sunstorm. "I have a shot. Should I take it? Hera? Hera are you there?"

The comlink went static. No one was answering his call. Ezra grew anxious, his finger was poised on the trigger. "Kanan, get ready to run." He signalled. Ezra knew it was now or never. He bent his finger backwards.

Boom

The room broke into chaos. Everyone was trampling on one another and running for their lives. Kanan picked up the VIP and bolted outside, but the only entrance was crawling with guards. "Guards at the entrance. Drop them." Ezra and Sabine took down the watchmen in no time. "Bullseye." Thought Ezra.

Hera was at the basement. She was leading the slaves trapped inside to free world, "Somebody get me a transport or thing are gonna go really bad for them!" yelled Hera. She and the slaves were out in the open. The only thing keeping the people distracted was Ezra and Sabine. She needed a ride, fast.

"I'm always on schedule, generals." An unknown voice came from the crew's comlink. A gunship shot out of nowhere and went guns blazing on the Zygerrian guards. Hera and the rescued hopped onboard and three clones got off the gunship, followed by a torgruta.

"How everyone?" Asked Ahsoka's through the comms. "We're all good. No injuries, VIP secure. Now we'll have to wait for the other gunship."

Kanan stared into the sky and saw the sight of another LAAT headed their way. But he could hear more that just the roaring engines of the gunship. Something else was coming.

He turned around and saw a Zygerrian Starhopper hovering above them. It launched a volley of lasers onto the gunship. The LAAT smoked and bursted into flames. A large explosion erupted from the other side of the city. Black smoke soon filled the sky. The Starhopper zoomed past Ezra. It reversed its direction and headed straight for him. "Great, how do we get out?" Asked Kanan.

Ezra grinned. "I got this."


	4. Chapter 4: Into the deep

Galactic date: 13 December, 2 BBY

Location: Zygerrian royal palace

Ezra and Sabine leaped onto the incoming Starhopper and smashed the front glass. The Zygerrian pilot tried to grab his blaster, but Ezra was faster and quickly disarmed him and threw it off the aircraft, along with its pilot.

Ezra jumped into the seat and steered it away from a squadron of enemy Starhoppers. He forced one to seperate from the main group and blasted it out of the sky.

He dropped the Starhopper to treetop level and lowered the ramp to pick up Kanan. They made it off the ground just before the enemy Starhoppers unleash a chain of yellow energy bolts onto them. Ezra punched the acceleration lever and activated the ship's communication systems. "Spectre 6 to Spectre 4, mission accomplished, package secure. Require immediate exfil."

The was no response. But when the crew were back in space, they saw a VCX-100 diverting front the main traffic and headed towards them. It was the Ghost.

"Spectre 4 to Spectre 6, sit tight. We're coming for you. " said a hazy but comforting voice. "Ready life support packs." Ordered Kanan. Since the Starhopper couldn't dock on the Ghost, the crew would have to drift towards the Ghost's docking tube through vacuum environment.

Ezra opened the cockpit. The crew jumped to safety just before the craft blew into smithereens. They made their way into the docking tube of the Ghost and got to their designated turrets.

Kanan dashed to the cockpit. He got on the controls and steered the ship away from the enemy fighters. "Get us out of here, Chop!" He ordered. Chopper plugged his mechanic arm into the astromech socket behind Kanan's seat and calibrated for hyperdrive.

Explosions and lasers filled around the Ghost. Kanan frantically twisted and turned to keep the Zygerrians from putting holes into the hull of the ship. Chopper beeped and rotated his astromech dome. Apparently he's saying, "Hyperdrive charge complete, jumping in 3...2...1."

Two hours later...

"Agh! Oof!" The captured Zygerrian groaned in pain as Zeb planted his fist on him. His name was Argus D'ane. "I can do this all day, scum." Said Zeb. He rubbed his knuckles and punched him in the face, hard. "You better start talking. It's only gonna get worse."

With no warning, Kanan barged into the interrogation room. "Whoa whoa whoa! Why didn't you call me and Ezra for a job like this?"

"Yeah, I know. Use the Force!" Zeb quickly changed his joking tone to a deep voice, "You sure you guys can do this?" He asked.

"We can. Has Ahsoka's arrived yet? We kinda need her here." Answered Kanan. He and Ezra could totally make Argus talk, but it will be much faster of Ahsoka gave them a hand.

The jedi gathered inside the room and did their trick. Zeb leaned against the wall outside and listened to everything going on behind the door. Every once a while a screeching cry in agony would make its way into the Lasat's ears. He grinned, "I knew Kanan could nail this off."

A hiss came from the door half an hour later. The jedi marched out of the room with a big smile on their faces. "So, how did it go?" Asked Zeb.

"Too well. He gave us everything we need. The emperor will pay a visit to the factories on Kadavo. They used the old site from the clone wars and built themselves a fortress there. So we just have to pick the right time to crash the party." Said Kanan. Zeb let out a sigh of relief and the crew marched down the hallway.

Chopper ran over Ezra's boots when the crew was heading back to their cabins. The astromech stopped in its tracks and beeped anxiously at Ezra. "What's so urgent you have to run over my leg?" Yelled Ezra. Chopper replied in his own language, "Commander Sato has a PM for you. He insists you to answer ASAP."

"Alright. I'll be back in a while guys." Said Ezra. He bolted off to his cabin and activated his data pad. A text message appeared on the screen. Ezra read the message closely.

"This is commander Sato. We've lost contact with one of our cruisers, Cassandra, near the Korriban system. We believe it hasn't been taken by the Empire yet. But one of our informers, Galen Marek, was aboard the ship. Your mission, should you choose to accept, is to accompany Spectre-5 to find out the become of the Cassandra and retrieve Marek. We also have unconfirmed reports that a turncoat has infiltrated our ranks. As a result, this message will self destruct in 5 seconds. Good luck, general Bridger."

"Yes sir." Said Ezra to himself.

He went to the armory of the ship. He opened the door, somebody was already in there. It was Sabine. She was trying to attach a jetpack to the back of her armor. Ezra grabbed a full pack of grenades and helped her put on the rocket pack. "Guess we'll be on our own for quite a while." Said Ezra.

"Yeah. But it's good to be with you." Sabine smiled. She fished out her darksabre which Ezra gave her as a birthday present. Since dealing with a missing ship is no walk in the park for even two expert swordsmen in love.

They strolled down the hangar and farewelled their friends and allies. "Good luck on Kadavo. And may the Force be with you." Said Ezra. "And you." Replied Kanan. The crew watched as Ezra and Sabine flew the Phantom out of the hangar and into space before vanishing from sight.

Aboard the Phantom, Ezra was staring into Sabine's eyes. He could feel she was clouded by sadness, and she probably needed him. "You look sad. Are you ok?" Asked Ezra while he placed his right hand onto her shoulder.

"Jaden."

Ezra scratched his head. He knew no Jaden in his whole life, or at least he thought he didn't. "He was the only person I can trust in my family. We grew up together, fought together. He was sent to the academy with me, but he hated the Empire, much more than any of us." Sabine continued. Her eyes were about to flood, she was always told to hold back her emotion back at the academy, and in some extreme cases, they were purged. That didn't work for her, and she was at the brink of having a total meltdown.

"Today in six years ago, he tried to steal a walker to bust out with me. But we were knocked down. He..." Sabine could no longer continue by now. She fell into Ezra's arms and remained silent for a long time. Tears ran down her cheeks and onto Ezra's shoulder guard.

"I'm sorry." That was all Ezra could think to say. But deep down, he was smiling. Not because he knew this Jaden was dead, but because he knew...he wasn't.


	5. Chapter 5: Starkiller

Galactic date: 13 December, 2 BBY

Location: Cassandra

A VCX shuttle jumped out of hyperspace two miles away from the ghost ship. The pilot steered the shuttle towards the Cassandra. "The ship is dead. This can't be good." He slowed down the ship and docked onto its surface.

"Time to get to the bottom of this." Said Ezra. Sabine got up and handed a jetpack to him. Ezra depressurised the back of the ship and opened the hatch. The two spacewalked towards a hatch and cut it open, completely unaware that somebody was watching them from another part of the ship.

Ezra drifted into the hallway of the cruiser. A bizarre and bloody scene lay in front of them. Dozens of crewmen, or what's left of them, were floating around with strands of blood coming from them.

Ezra gasped in disgust to the sight of such horror. He and Sabine flipped a body, and found a very neat slash on its belly. "That's by a lightsaber." Said Ezra. Sabine frowned, a man killing rebels with a lightsaber can never be good. "Who could have done this?" She asked.

Ezra thought for a while and answered, "We'll head to the bridge, perhaps the ship log will give as a lead." Without hesitating, the two made their way through alleys and hallways. Little did they know they were drifting into a trap that meant certain death.

They arrived at the bridge. Shattered glass were knocked out of their way as they got to the main computer. Ezra gained access to the ship logs with his authorization codes. But before he could do anything, he felt Sabine shaking his shoulder frantically.

"What's up Sabine..." He was interrupted when he saw a bright red coming from the way they came in. Ezra turned around and saw the horrifying sight of five star destroyers jumping out of hyperspace.

"Ah! I see someone has finally decided to pay me a visit." Said Marek. He walked out of the hallway and found himself staring at a Mandalorian with repainted armor. She was wearing a rocket pack with a darksabre and a T-7 disruptor attached to it.

Next to her was an ARC trooper covered with orange stripes. A star bird insigna was merged with a Mandalorian symbol on both of his shoulder guards. His helmet was carved with the words of 'Gen. E. Bridger'. He also had a jetpack attached with a lightsaber blaster and a crossguard saber.

Ezra ignited both of his lightsabers, so did Sabine. "Let me guess, you're Vader's new lapdog?" Ezra asked sarcastically, although his heart rate was accelerating in a terrifying speed. He knew this was nowhere close to any inquisitor he has encountered. He's dealing with a Sith, a real Sith.

Marek didn't take Ezra's mocking seriously. "Do you really think I'm as childish as the inquisitors? Hardly. Now, I'll prove you wrong." He stepped on the wall and went flying towards Ezra. Ezra managed to avoid Marek and swung his green lightsaber towards him. Marek easily deflected his attack, and forced Ezra's blade away from him.

Sabine deflected Marek's blow before he could get anywhere closer to Ezra. But her strength was no match to Marek's. He kicked Sabine in her stomach and she was sent flying towards a wall.

"Sabine!" Ezra yelled and ran towards Marek. His lightsaber clashed with Marek's and he held his ground. "Sabine, go!" Ezra shouted. But Sabine was not about to repeat her history on Ezra. She pulled out her twin blasters and fired at Marek, but was countered by him with no sweat.

Marek force pushed Ezra and he flew towards the wall. He landed next to Sabine and groaned in pain. He was about to fight Marek when he suddenly noticed he wasn't on the bridge anymore. Instead, he was boarding a TIE-advanced. "If you get out of this, come find me." That was his last words before volleys of green lasers hurtled towards the dead cruiser and sent parts of it exploding.

"Guess this is when our jet packs come in." Said Sabine. The two throttled out of the bridge just before another laser bolt sent the bridge sky-high. They managed to get back to the Phantom without getting shot down. Ezra powered up the Phantom, but then he noticed a gigantic fireball coming out from the reactor of the Cassandra.

The explosion blasted the Phantom away from the hellfire. The shuttle was caught by gravity and was plummeting towards the surface of Korriban. Ezra did everything he can to regain control of the ship, but to no avail. "Brace for it!" He yelled as the Phantom was only seconds away from impact.

Sometime later, aboard the Dominate...

Marek marched down the alley towards the hologram room. He was ordered to report his mission to Darth Vader himself. He activated the hologram, a masked man in black emerged from the projector. "Did you kill the Jedi?" Asked Vader through the hologram.

Marek cleared his throat before reporting, "No, but the explosion certainly did. And if it didn't, then they must be on Korriban." Vader paused. "I want to be certain. Go to Korriban, and hunt him down." Ordered Vader.

"I'll bring him to you personally, master." Said Marek. To him, Ezra wasn't even a match. "Do not be a fool, Marek. He has become a threat the Empire cannot turn away from, like a cancer. I need you to eradicate this cancer." Demanded Vader. He knew the inquisitors never intended to kill Ezra when his life was in their hands, and that led to their downfall.

"It will be done, master." Marek marched out of the room and summoned his personal Shadow Guards. "The boy is on Korriban. We will hunt him down, kill him on sight, no mercy."

Meanwhile, aboard the Kanera...

Kanan plopped down beside the Dejarik table. He just finished meditating and it sent him going bonkers. He saw their lost ship, turned into solar dust by the Empire. He prayed with all his heart it didn't take his apprentice with him.

He saw Ramin wandering around aimlessly, he climbed up the Dejarik table and shook a toy Phantom in front of him. "Not now son. I'm thinking." But Ramin insisted his father to look at him. He 'crashed' his toy Phantom onto the Dejarik table and whispered a few words into his ears.

"On the surface."

Kanan frowned. He held his head and looked down, still trying to figure out the fate of Ezra. But then a lightbulb went over his head. "I got it! Ramin, you're a genius!" He screamed and ran towards the bridge. "Hera! We have to go to Korriban. Ezra's ship crashed and the Empire is on their tails." Hera raised her eyebrow, she could feel in her guts a search and rescue mission was coming.

"How do you know he met a speed bump?" Asked Hera. "I felt it, and if we don't get there soon, this might turn into a recovery mission." Said Kanan.

"Guess we'll just leave Sato a message and be on our way." Zeb chimed in. Kanan and Hera sprinted to the cockpit and powered up the Ghost. "This is Ghost, transmitting codes for docking bay." The red strip on the cruiser slid open, and the Ghost flew out of the hangar and disappeared into deep space.


	6. Chapter 6: Undead

**AN: I need some reviews so I can improve my story. Constructive criticism is welcome. And thank you for all the people that have been reading my fanfics.**

Galactic date: 13 December, 2 BBY

Location: Korriban

Ezra and Sabine were knocked out flat by the crash. The Phantom was smoking, and sparks were popping out from its wires and components. Ezra blinked, looking startled and confused-like. The last thing he could remember was the Phantom touching down, and a lot of banging and rolling.

He got up fast and looked outside. The night was falling and the sun was only minutes from vanishing from the horizon. He's heard plenty of myths of Korriban in his childhood about undead creatures and flesh-hungry beasts lurking in the wild, and he did not want to be part of it.

Sabine got to her senses and sat on the floor. She groaned out loud and held her head with her hands. She blinked for a few seconds to get back into action before losing any more precious time to examine the ship. She pressed on the sides of the cabin to keep herself from collapsing and strutted outside. She saw Ezra staring at the interiors of the Phantom, looking frustrated.

"How bad is it?" She asked with whatever energy was left inside her. Every inch of her body was at a critical state. "Long-range communications are completely out of action, and so are the engines. Not even the front guns are working properly." Replied Ezra. The sun just went down another inch, and the two were worried as hell. The night of Korriban was known of being spooky, with monsters ready to have you for dinner.

"Auto-turret is still up though." Ezra continued. Sabine dragged out a container filled with spare parts and tools. "We got the parts for repairing the engines, but we won't be talking to anyone soon." Sabine sighed. "We'll only have time to install a new power cell before we have to settle in. Unless we work overnight and risk getting eaten or frozen." Ezra said. He caught the power cell Sabine tossed at him, and plugged it into the engine.

Minutes later, the sky went completely dark, but Ezra was not about to leave himself and Sabine stuck on the surface. "Get some rest. I'll finish the rest." Said Ezra. He could already hear something creeping around in the distance, and it was signalling that he had to double time.

But Sabine couldn't bear watching her boyfriend working outside while trying to keep himself from freezing to death. She pulled out a wrench and started working on the engines. "I'll stay with you." Said Sabine.

Ezra eventually decided to try another jedi trick. He sat down on the sand and pictured the Phantom's engine structure in his mind. Soon, parts started flowing in midair, and were well placed in the engine one by one.

A shadow ran past Ezra from behind. He turned his head and saw nothing, but he could definitely tell something was creeping around nearby. He patted on Sabine's shoulder. "We got company."

They drew out their Sabres and ignited them. Another shadow appeared in front of them. And that's when it hit Ezra: where they crashed was only one or two clicks away from the Valley of the Dark Lords, and he remembered what the old master Maul once told him about the undead guarding the tombs. And all of a sudden they found themselves surrounded by hordes of hungry Rakghouls.

A Rakghoul leaped towards them, and was cut in half by Ezra's crossguard lightsaber. He launched a force repulse and sent his predators flying in all directions. "Get inside!" He and Sabine got inside and closed the hatch just before a Rakghoul rammed into the door. Ezra launched another force push and repelled the Rakghouls outside.

Sabine ran to the cockpit and powered up the ship, but instead of hearing the humming sound of the engines, the ship shuddered and went dead. "Damn! You sure you put everything in the right place?" Ezra was growing desperate at the back, ther was already a dent in the door and the ship was still on the ground.

He repelled the creatures again and activated the turret with his built-in datapad on his right arm. Most of the Rakghouls got shot immediately, but a few managed to avoid the deadly laser and tried to punch holes from the side. "Let me try it." Ezra hit the throttle hard. The engines roared, burning down a Rakghoul.

The Phantom soon got airborne. Ezra plopped down on the co-pilot seat and accelerated the ship. Sabine checked the fuel reading and noticed there was only one red bar left. "It won't be enough fuel to get us back to the fleet. We might have to pay a visit to Concordia to get some fuel." Said the demo expert. She pushed the hyperdrive lever and the Phantom disappeared from the star destroyer's radar.

"It's gonna take us a while to get to Concordia." Said Sabine. "Better get some rest. The ship will call us half an hour before final approach." Ezra pulled out the folding seats to pass the night. Sabine lay down on the unfolded chairs. Her body was shivering, the Phantom was always cold, and it almost felt like the secret rebel base on Hoth.

"Damn. I can feel the temperature even inside my suit." Ezra emptied his pistol holsters and stuffed his hands inside. He lay down in the passenger cabin with his teeth chattering slightly. His temperature gauge just went past zero, and they still got a whole night to pass in the wild space.

"Well, I do know a way to keep ourselves from freezing to death." Sabine lay herself next to Ezra and wrapped her arms around him, which he eagerly accepted. Their relationship has developed steadily over the past two years, and sleeping with each other was no sweat to them.

Ezra embraced her back and kissed her gently. Sabine's grip tightened on him and kissed him back, and the two eventually managed to find their moment where they're alone, with no one else to disturb them.

Despite being in the worst condition a pilot could be, Ezra could feel a tremendous warmth flooding his soul. He couldn't even remember when was the last time he got to spend his time with Sabine alone. He decided just to forget their troubles for now and get the sleep they desperately needed.

A few hours earlier...

A Corellian VCX jumped out of hyperspace outside Kadavo's atmosphere. The crew, Kanan, Zeb, and Ahsoka were all gathered in the weapon booth to gear up for the assassination mission, since Ezra was nowhere to be found on Korriban and the slaves were counting on them. The King of the Zygerria Empire, Darts D'nar, is paying a visit on one of his prized factories, and the crew tracked him here to pick him off the menu.

"Thirty seconds till insertion." Said Hera from the broadcast. The Ghost entered Kadavo's atmosphere and Hera lowered the rear ramp. "D'nar's ship is scheduled to arrive fifteen minutes from now. You'll only have a short time to get to the landing pad and take out his ship. Make sure you nail it off or we'll have to call in half of Phoenix Squadron to get us out."

The crew walked towards the edge of the ramp. The breeze from midair collided with their faces. The view from above was spectacular, if only it wasn't crawling with slave traders. Hera signalled the all clear from the cockpit. The ground team sprinted towards the edge, all ready for an adrenaline rush.

"Good luck. Have fun down there."


	7. Chapter 7: Underworld of Kadavo

Galactic date: 13 December, 2 BBY

Location: Kadavo

Three armoured figures descended towards the Zygerrian weapons factory. They just jumped out of a freighter orbiting Kadavo minutes earlier. "4000 feet." Said Hera through the comms. The crew soon broke through the clouds and saw the factory below them. "That's not what it looked like when I first came here." Said Rex.

"You've been here before?" Yelled Zeb. He was having a hard time trying to hear what his teammates were trying to say, and the noise of the wind was not helping. "Yeah, during the Clone Wars. Wasn't exactly a pleasant trip though. I was captured, had to work in the factory just to save my ass. We destroyed it in the end." Replied Rex.

"3500 feet."

The crew checked their rocket packs. They'll need it to slow down their descend. "I though this place was filled with volcanoes! How did they manage to build factories there?" Yelled Zeb.

"That was history Zeb. Guess nature decided to cool off for a while. Doesn't affect our mission." Answered Kanan. "3000 feet." "I thought you never liked assassination missions Kanan. Last year, you had to choose not to end the Mando that almost killed your wife!" Said Zeb.

"Well, at least it paid off now. No extra enemies to deal with." Replied Kanan. "2500 feet. Prep rocket packs." Ordered Hera. The crew ignited a few short bursts to decelerate. They eventually landed near the east end of the factory.

"Alright. There should be a group of cannon towers 100 yards directly ahead of you. That's where the King's ship will land. Get there." Said Hera. The crew jumped up the wall with a little boost from their rocket packs. Kanan grabbed his binoculars and scanned the landing platform.

"Five AA cannons, three guards...regular duty." Whispered Kanan. Rex flipped down his visor and magnified on the cannon towers. "Those guns are ray-shielded. Disruptors are useless." Said Rex. "We'll have to take them out in the old fashioned way."

"Stay focused. Here comes the ship." Kanan said as a Delta S-9 freighter landed on the platform, blowing fumes and smoke towards the crew. "Karabast. No clear shot. My optics are covered in the smoke. Rex, you got anything?" Asked Kanan. "Nothing. My visors are scrambled. But I still have audio recording. Switch to thermal sight. It'll help you see through the smoke." Answered Rex. He toggled his visor with his datapad attached on his arm and recorded the dialogue between the keeper and the king without missing a beat.

"...can assure you, those rebels would never touch this place." A Zygerrian said. He was the keeper of the factory. "Indeed. Not only am I aware of their naive infiltration, but I can also end their lives, with the voice of a simple few words." Rex was confused. _How the heck did those scumbags know anything about our visit? Must've got a mole to do something like this._

Kanan stood up, filled with confusion in his mind. "Get off! Now!" He ordered. They had no time to spare. Everyone jumped off their vantage point just before a streak of yellow explosive rounds hurtled towards their previous spot, igniting a ball of flames and smoke right above their heads. They landed on the platform and was confronted by several Zygerrian guards.

The crew and the Zygerrians drew their weapons. Kanan and Zeb deflected the whips flying towards them while Rex sprinted to the control panel to open the blast doors and get inside the facility. "Better keep them off my back general!" Yelled Rex. Kanan leaped towards a guard and cut him down. The rest of the Zygerrians tried to subdue the jedi with their whips and blasters, but to no avail. Kanan noticed the turrets were rotating, and ran out in the open towards the closest one.

He jumped onto the top of the turret and opened its hatch. A volley of red blaster bolts flew towards him instantly, which he all deflected. He jumped into the turret and commandeered it in no time. "You're clear. Rex, get the door open!"

Rex was still fiddling with the locking mechanism at the door. Right now he was craving for an astromech to help him out. "Got it!" The blast doors hissed open, and a series of hallways and stairwells were revealed in front of them.

"We better start looking before the king gets too far. I'll stay behind and make sure no one gets in or out. Good luck." Said Kanan. Rex and Zeb decided to split up. Zeb sprinted towards the slave quarters while the clone ran down the stairwell and took out a few guards along the way.

He was stunned by the view in front of him as he proceeded downwards. He found himself standing on a bridge, looking at the speeders zooming by below him. The brightest and the dimmest of lights from the densely arranged buildings glowed in front of him "Hera, are you seeing this?" Hera kept her eyes focused on Rex's kill cam. "I am. What in the galaxy is this?" She exclaimed. "It's more than a factory. It looks like...a city, an underworld." He stammered.

"Commander Sato. The Zygerrians built an underground city for their slave empire. We're gonna need more than our freighter to extract them all." said Hera through the comms. "Copy that captain Syndulla. Reinforcement is on their way. ETA four hours." Hera lay on the pilot's seat, slightly frustrated but relieved. "Well that's gonna take a while."

Zeb dashed through the hallways towards the quarters. He saw three guards standing in his way, whips ignited. Zeb roared, and charged towards them. He missed, and all hell broke loose outside the slave cabins. The sound of banging and slashing rang across every inch of the facility, attracting more and more guards' attention.

Eventually, Zeb was overwhelmed. The Zygerrian binded him with their whips and electrified the Lasat. Zeb cried out in agony, and soon lost his strength to fight back. The Zygerrians dragged him away, leaving absolutely no evidence of the violent fight behind.

Rex was attempting to track down the king when he was interrupted by a disturbing voice. "Stand down!" He turned around, and saw three angry Zygerrians pacing towards him. He jumped up, without a second thought, and did a backflip in the air and vanished.

He landed on an incoming speeder and onto its passenger seat. The driver pulled out his blaster and tried to shoot him, but Rex was one step ahead. He stunned the Ithorian driver and took over the speeder.

Within moments, several speeders mounted with cannons closed in onto Rex. He managed to dodge most of the bolts, but was in grave danger of colliding into another speeder or the ground.

He reduced his speed and dropped behind the Zygerrians. The pursuers rotated the read gun of their speeders and opened up on Rex. The clone pulled out his pistol and crippled one of the turrets.

He then descended towards the streets, hugging the ground. People dodged the vehicles as they sped through the streets of the underground city. Eventually Rex sent one of the speeders crashing into the buildings, but ended up with his engine smoking.

He bailed out and landed safely with his jetpack. His speeder crashed a few hundred meters ahead, drawing away the attention of the civilians and the Zygerrians. He turned into an alley and activated his comlink. "This is Rex, does anyone copy?" A familiar voice relieved him when it reached his ear. "Kanan here. I just lost contact with Zeb, do you have eyes on him?"

"Negative. I just got chased down to the lower levels. Need to stick to the shadows. I will contact you once I find your friend." Replied Rex. He just finished his sentence when dozens of Zygerrians surrounded him. "I gotta go!"

Meanwhile, aboard the Phantom...

Ezra was woken up by the racket of the Phantom's alarm. He sat down on the pilot's seat and checked the nav computer. They were only one parsec away from Mandalore, which was some good news Ezra desperately needed.

He heard a yawn from behind him, the Mandalorian sat down beside him and stayed silent. "Hey." That was all Ezra could think to say. "How're you holding?" He continued. "Last night was great. Some pleasure I haven't felt for a long time."

Ezra activated his data pad, and scrolled down to a profile of a Mandalorian clan. He kept his focus on one particular member, Jaden.

He knew he was about to reunite two long lost warriors, and he was glad about it.


	8. Chapter 8: Siblings of the Death Watch

Galactic date: 14 December, 2 BBY

Location: Concordia

A lone VCX shuttle jumped out of hyperspace. The pilot set his course to the firebase of clan Wren, one of the many enemies of the Empire, and descended into the Mandalorian moon.

"So Sabine, why did your people have to live here?" Asked the pilot. "We were exiled during the wake of the Empire. When the first landed here, they hated us, but they couldn't exactly find the right excuse to kill us. So they sent us to this barren wasteland and left us to die out. But we didn't. We watched and waited, for the perfect moment. Hopefully you and I can make that moment happen soon, Ezra." Replied Sabine.

"Well, I guess that mens we will be having some fuel, along with some new friends." Said Ezra. The firebase was soon in sight, and two Gauntlet fighters appeared at the tip of the Phantom. Soon the Phantom was hailed by the Mandalorian escorts. "Attention unknown vessel. This is a restricted military zone. State your identity and purpose."

Ezra cleared his throat before answering their demand, "This is TF-113-06. Requesting permission for refuel and repair. And a social meeting with TF-072-03." The escorts paused for a while before they gave Ezra a reply. "Verifying unit number. Do not deviate from your current course." It was a long wait. Every second felt like a year inside the cockpit. "That's quite a sophisticated military here." Said Ezra.

"Yeah. One of the few clans that remained hostile to the Empire." Ezra closed his eyes and placed his hands on his laps. "Mind if I meditate?" He asked. "Sure. Go ahead." He let himself relax, and drifted into his memories.

Flashback

Galactic date: December 11, 4 BBY

Location: Thule

Ezra was standing in front of a Sith temple glowing red. He was all alone. The others went on their separate ways in the temple and Ezra walked inside the only entrance he can find. The whole atmosphere sent a chill down his spine, it was so quiet Ezra could hear water dripping in the distance. He moved forward, and soon found himself at the middle of a large room, with statues of ancient Sith lords surrounding him.

He heard a hiss coming from behind him, followed by lots of them. He turned around, and saw dozens of masked people walking towards him with an object glowing in hue. It wasn't anything else, it was a lightsaber. Ezra pulled out his own lightsaber and ignited it, ready for a deadly dance.

Surprisingly, the figures stopped pacing towards him. Instead, a hooded dathomirian stopped in front of him. "You're lost." Said the figure. "So?" Asked Ezra sternly. He knew well who he was talking to: a legitimate Sith warrior.

"Walk with me." The dathomirian demanded. Ezra stowed his lightsaber and followed him to a conference room, or so it seems to be. They sat down and the dathomirian levitated a holocron to the young jedi. "I want you to open it." He said. "Why should I? This is a Sith holocron, and I'm not here to join you." Answered Ezra angrily.

"Your dearest friend," The dathomirian pulled out a holoprojector and activated it. "is about to fall to the hands of the Empire. How far will you go to save her?" Ezra's heart shrieked, Sabine has become something Ezra could never afford to loose, she was the one person Ezra loved more than anyone else, besides his parents. Memories of Ezra's old days of wooing her flowed in his head, like a shroud of everything from across the galaxy.

"I see." Said the dathomirian, like he could read Ezra's mind. "The truth is: you can't protect her forever. The dark side of the force leads to many abilities, such as eternal life. It's the only way." Ezra paused, _eternal life? Sounds good. But what is the point? Someday the galaxy is gonna bore me out._

"I admit it's very tempting, but the answer is no." Said Ezra. The dathomirian grunted, and lifted his hand. Ezra shivered, and held his head tight. His mind was collapsing to the dark side, slowly, painfully. Eventually, he was left panting in distress. "Do you see it now? The whole picture?" Asked the dathomirian.

Ezra nodded in fear and hopelessness. He couldn't even utter a single word. "I can stop this from happening. You may call me...old master." Soon, Ezra's mind was flowing with images of stormtroopers flooding the hallways of the Tantive IV, and the last thing he saw was Sabine dragged into the imperial craft, leaving the padawan devastated.

Reality

"...113-06, you are clear to land on platform 1-2. Your friend will be waiting for you, do not divert from your current course." Ezra was brought back by the sound of the comms. "Copy that. We're on our way." He answered while panting slightly.

The Phantom landed next to a pile of supply crates. A group of three Mandalorians marched towards the ship. The two on the side drew their weapons, but was halted by the one in the middle. He removed his T-shaped helmet, and stared at the landing shuttle with a grin on his face.

The rear hatch of the Phantom flipped open, and a man in clone armor marched out of the ship, followed by a rogue Mandalorian. "Good to see you in one piece, Jai." Said Ezra. "You mean Jaden. Remember, I used a fake identity just like you did." Replied the Mandalorian.

"Right. Sabine, this is Jaden Wren...your brother." Said Ezra. Sabine was totally caught off guard by the sudden news, she was lost for words. Moments later, she ran towards her brother and held him tight in her arms.

"Welcome home, sister." Said Jaden.

Meanwhile, aboard the Devastator...

"It is time to abort your search, my apprentice." Said a deep voice. "Yes master. But where could they be now?" Asked the apprentice. "I sense their presence in the Mandalore system, but do not go there Marek."

"I understand master, but why not?" Said Marek. After all these years hunting down numerous Jedi, he had become obsessed with them, often claiming their lightsabers as his trophies. Usually Vader would support him with no further instructions, but this time, even the blood-boiling Marek could tell this Jedi stands out from the rest.

"His friends are now trapped on the planet of Kadavo. We will exploit his compassion as we always did. In time, he will be doomed, and you may take the honor to end his misery as a reward of your long service to the Empire." Answered Vader. "As you wish, my master. I will proceed to Kadavo immediately."


	9. Chapter 9: Taken

Galactic date: 14 December, 2 BBY

Location: Underworld

Rex was checking his ammo in a deserted basement. His mission to assassinate the king has gone horribly wrong, resulting in the capture of his general and Zeb. Now, he was on the run from the Zygerrians and he knew he couldn't hide forever.

"Two thousand rounds, a jet rocket, two grenades...enough for a battle, but not for a war." The clone said to himself. He stumbled around the basement a while back and got hold of a rusty astromech droid. Apparently it hasn't been active since the days of the Old Republic, and getting it back online would be like trying to stop a Mandalorian from a pack of weapons.

"I might just have to take my chances." He thought. He took out the power unit from his helmet and installed it to the astromech. The droid beeped shyly, and looked at Rex with its mechanic eye. "Hey, hey! Wake up! I need you to contact Ezra."

The droid weeped in confusion. Rex tried to translate the droid's message in his head. "Satele?" Asked Rex. The droid projected a profile in front of Rex and beeped furiously. "Oh...the grandmaster from the old republic. She died a long time ago." The droid lowered its dome-shaped head. "Yes, died of old age." Rex continued.

The droid's head suddenly popped up, "Old age? Where am I? What year is it?" Asked the droid. "It's 17 galactic year according to the Empire calendar. Where exactly are you from?" Asked Rex as he projected a list in front of the droid. "Never mind. I need you to do me a favor. Can you send a distress signal to the following units?"

The droid's communication dish rotated and its head twisted. Rex was waiting impatiently while he was hailing his teammates, wherever they are. "This is captain Rex. Radio check, is anyone out there? This is captain Rex, does anyone hear me?"

Ezra was working on the com devices on the Phantom. He was about to test it when it suddenly came to life. "...captain re...is...out there?" Ezra sprinted inside the Phantom and hit the comm switch. "This is Spectre-6, I read you. The Cassandra is destroyed, thanks to the Empire. We're refueling on Concordia right now."

Rex was relieved to hear that Ezra's alive, but was still frustrated to know they're alone out here. "Just contact Sato. Tell him we're in quite a mess now. Good luck." Said Rex.

"What's going on?" Asked Jaden. Ezra patted him on the shoulder and marched out of the Phantom, "We've got a friend in hell right now. Time to walk him out?" "Alright. Hopefully my mother's in a good mood right now." Said Jaden.

"Got it. Find me in the headquarters." Said Ezra as he ran towards the largest tent in the whole fire base. "I need to speak to Bo Katan." He said to the guards. Soon, he was sent into the tent. A woman sat opposite Ezra, with a few other Mandalorian 'officials' gathered around a large hologram.

"So what do you need?" Asked Katan. "I need to save my friends." Answered Ezra. Katan paused for a while before she told the others to leave, "Will you excuse us? Me and the boy need to talk alone."

The rest of the officials left the room, leaving Ezra alone with the former Death Watch commander. "Thank you," That got Ezra's attention. "Perhaps she will help us." Thought Ezra. "for bringing back my daughter."

"I will help you, if you can help us take our home back." She continued. Ezra was never like his usual self when it comes to helping others in need. He openly agrees, and soon dozens of Mandalorians were assembled at the shipyard, being briefed for their next mission.

Ezra went back outside. He was glad he struck a solid deal with the galaxy's most deadly warriors, but he still felt a scar in his heart, like some loose ends were left untreated. Ezra headed towards his temporary quarters which the Mandalorians agreed to lend the two a room until they set off to Kadavo.

Now he just had to wait till the Mandos are done debating and preparing for the assault.

Meanwhile, on Kadavo...

A squad of red TIE interceptors soared down towards the factory. They ran into bolts of cannon fire as they continued to descend. "Take out that cannon or this mission is over before it started!" Ordered Marek, the leader of the squad.

"Negative, it's ray-shielded! We can't take it out from the air!" Yelled his wingman. "Then keep it occupied! I've got this." Said the young Sith. He shifted left and landed his craft on an unguarded platform. He hopped out of his TIE, and made a run towards the cannon.

Kanan saw the incoming threat and opened up at him. To his surprise, the Sith dodged every bolt of laser fired at him. Marek jumped up, and landed on the top of the turret.

Unfortunately for him, he was force repelled of the turret by Kanan. He grabbed this golden opportunity and got out, for he knew it was just a matter of time before the Sith jumps into the turret and stabs him in the back.

"Rex, be advised: we're being overrun. Stormtroopers will be rushing into the city any moment. Free as many slaves as you can to buy us some time. And if you can, try to find Zeb. May the force be with you."

Little did Kanan know these were his last words before he is locked up in a cell, again. He heard someone running for him. The man leaped up, and ignited a red lightsaber. Kanan drew his, and the two began another gruelling jedi vs Sith duel.

"What they say about you is right. You are truly a remarkable warrior." Said Marek while he deflected yet another one of Kanan's blows. "Well, at least you're more challenging than the inquisitors." Kanan returned, not paying much attention to Marek's 'compliment'.

"Unfortunately I must end you today. I hope you'll find your place when you become one with the force." Said Marek. He lifted his lightsaber and delivered a final slash at his opponent. Kanan flinched, but was knocked out when Marek launched a kick in his face.

Marek activated his comlink and contacted Vader about his success. "What is thy bidding, my master?" A deep and dark voice soon returned his question. "Get out of the facility and bring the jedi to me. I will bring this place down to its knees." Marek wasn't any higher that a scum after following Vader for so long, but he still couldn't bear to see the sight of millions of innocents perishing in a matter of seconds. "Orbital bombing? But sir, countless innocents will be killed!"

"The rebels will be responsible for this. Now get out of there." Answered Vader coldly. Marek felt a river of guilt and compassion flowing through his heart. His loyalty to Vader was never shaken, until now. And with a troubled mind, he dragged Kanan's body to his TIE interceptor and left the factory to be vaporised by the orbital payload.


	10. Chapter 10: Death from above

Galactic date: 14 December, 2 BBY

Location: Kadavo

A spark of light emerged from the horizon. The light rose up slowly, marking the beginning of a new day, new hardship.

Rex was snoring in his shelter when the astromech droid next to him went buzzing without warning. He got up and checked on the droid. "What's the emergency? Zygerrians?" The droid projected the radar scan, indicating the threat of incoming orbital bombardment. "Oh sh..."

Before Rex could finish his sentence, he felt the ground shake violently, but unlike a standard bombing, the shock only lasted for a few seconds. Rex heard a voice coming from outside. It didn't take a genius to figure out the Zygerrians were onto him. Rex stuck his head out the window, only to receive a volley of blaster bolts flying at him.

He ducked and tossed a grenade out the window to cover his escape. The blast managed to take out a few Zygerrians and Rex ran towards an empty speeder lot. Before he could loot one, he noticed more Zygerrians headed for him in all directions.

He ran inside a nearby container and got out of sight just before the Zygerrians got to the parking lot. He peeked outside, and saw a horde of Zygerrians scouting the area with blasters and whips strapped on their hips. He heard a buzz from his comlink and wasted no time to activate it.

"Rex, watch your fire from above. We're coming in." Said a teenager through the comms. Rex instantly knew it was Ezra, some much needed help. "It's good to see you kid. But I'm afraid the slaves I freed aren't enough to cover our escape. We'll need..." Ezra interrupted him before the clone could finish. "Don't worry, I've brought some friends."

Rex stared up, and saw the sight of Ezra leading Sabine and a squad of Mandalorians rappelling down and taking out every Zygerrian in their path. A few dozens of Mandalorian jetpackers soon joined the fight, and Rex was finally able to catch his breath.

"Man, are you a sight for sore eyes!" Rex complimented. "Thank me later. They'll start raining bombs on this place any moment! We have to get out of here. Where's Zeb and Kanan?" Asked Ezra.

"We got separated. Zeb was captured and I lost contact with General Jarrus. I'm sorry." Ezra sighed in defeat and wore his helmet. "Never mind. But we have to find them soon. We'll start off once we get back to the fleet."

Ezra and the rest of the people ran, gunning down Zygerrians as they proceeded to the landing pad. The Ghost and several Gauntlet fighters were already waiting there, engines running and ready to fly at any moment.

"C'mon c'mon! Get in!" Hera exclaimed. Ezra, Rex, Sabine and four other Mandalorians got aboard the Ghost and the rest went to their designated fighters. Soon, the convoy lifted off and headed towards the atmosphere.

"Alright everyone hang on! Incoming TIEs!" Yelled Hera. Rex instantly sprinted to the nearest turret while Ezra activated his comms to contact Sabine and the Mandos. "You guys better strap on, it's gonna be a bumpy ride!"

Ezra manned the nose turret and fired on an incoming TIE. It dodged the fire, but was blew up by Rex. Ezra rotated the guns and shot down another TIE. Soon, the ship's hyperdrive was ready and the convoy disappeared in a flash.

"Do you mind telling me why are there four extra guests on our ship?" Asked Hera. She remembered she had quite a bad history with the Mandalorians, not to mention she was almost blown to bits by a Mandalorian pilot last year. "We made some new friends, and they seem pretty eager to help. They've been stuck on Concordia for too long." Answered Ezra.

"Right. I'm not sure about the timing, but I'll say you better talk to Sabine. She's your girlfriend after all." Said Hera jokingly. "By the way, where's Kanan and Zeb? I don't see them anywhere." She continued.

"They're captured. We're gonna have to bust in another prison." Sighed Ezra. This wasn't the first time his master was lost to the Empire, and he was determined to put a stop on losing another one of his friends.

He walked up to the cabins and heard a familiar sound: the hiss of Sabine's spray paint. He looked inside, a saw a picture of an armored soldier running and firing a disruptor. He didn't take long to figure out who that soldier was: himself.

"Wow. That's...that's..." Ezra stammered. Sabine didn't say a word. Instead, she threw her arms around Ezra and kissed him gently. "Thank you, Ezra..." She panted slightly before finishing her sentence. "...thank you."

"Ezra, I need to talk to you about..." Jaden stopped in his tracks when he saw his sister kissing Ezra in front of him. His mouth opened wide, but his surprise was soon replaced by a grin on his face. "Congratulations Ezra." He thought.

Ezra broke the kiss and turned at Jaden, "Yeah?" he asked. "...about uh...never mind, just come with me." Ezra followed Jaden to the nose turret and plopped down on the seat. "It must be rough for you to take on the whole galaxy at such a young age yourself." Said Jaden.

"So the reason you called me in such a hurry was to talk about my life?" Ezra laughed. He never thought his old friend would suddenly want to talk about his history. "I've heard about your past, I'm sorry." Jaden sighed. "Don't be. I never was a good person anyway."

"Hardly. If I know one thing about you, you always spend time thinking of others and too little of yourself." Said Jaden. Ezra breathed heavily before saying another word, "Maybe, but I have to. Sometimes these things happen if I don't." Jaden knew well he was referring to the abduction of his master and the team's muscle. He placed his hand on Ezra's shoulder and said. "We'll be on your side. No matter what."

Several days later...

Ezra headed to the nose turret of the Ghost and rested there. He and the clones have just taken down another slave syndicate and captured an imperial astromech, and technicians are working day and night to dig out intelligence from it. Now he just had to wait for a answer.

He heard footsteps behind him and turned around, it wasn't anyone else, it was Sabine. "You okay?" She asked. Ezra nodded slightly. "Just thinking of the moment when we first met. You pulled me down and um...you know what happened next." He smirked. "Wish we were talking under better circumstances."

"Don't get sunk in the past dear." Said Sabine. They were interrupted by the sound of Ezra's comlink. "Any word on Kanan and Zeb?" He asked. "Still nothing on general Jarrus yet. But we just confirmed captain Orrelios is imprisoned on Teth." Replied the other side. "Alright. I'll be up on the bridge in a moment."


	11. Chapter 11: Descend from darkness

Galactic date: 18 December, 2 BBY

Location: Concordia shipyard

Ezra, Sato and a few other Mandalorian commanders gathered in room with a row of computers. The rebels and the Mandalorians have been having meetings day and night about strategic plans of liberating worlds ever since they found each other out of the blue. "So, general Bridger. We understand you have friends taken as prisoners on Teth." Said a Mandalorian. "Indeed. It's in the far end of the galaxy, one of the most isolated location you can find on the map. The bucket heads used the old monastery there and transformed it into another prison." Replied Ezra.

"One prison specifically used to hold mousy clones and tough bastards from across the galaxy. That's where they constantly get info about us. We've been on the defensive ever since." Katan chimed in. "In some cases, the clones locked up in there would turn to the Empire and pose as a trap for unlucky rebels. A lot of my men fell for that." She added.

"CT-1409, Hunter, Wrecker, Tek, Crosshair...these were the men that kept us from annihilation. They're imprinted in our memories. We owe them our lives. Now it's time to bring them back." Said Kal Skirata, another Mandalorian leader. "So it's a green light. We'll roll hard at noon." Said Katan.

Ezra headed to the shipyard and met Jaden there. The two chatted as they slowly proceeded to the Darksider, a Venator class Destroyer adopted by clan Skirata. "That's a lot of hardware here." Ezra spoke up.

"It sure is. Protests are ignited all over Mandalore right now my friend, the time is coming." Jaden looked up, though it was covered by layers of durasteel doors. "We will free your world Jaden. We will." Ezra nodded in agreement.

A few hours later...

Zeb was sitting in a rotten cell. It smelled like the place hasn't been cleaned since the start of the Great Hyperspace War. A few aged men lay in the cell next to his, chanting a rhythm known as 'blackheart'.

"How did you end up here?" Asked one of the prisoners. Zeb was surprised to learn the man talking to him was a clone, but he hid his hostility against clones as he was a prisoner instead another lapdog of the Empire. "I was captured on Zygerria. You?" Returned Zeb.

"Zygerria. That's some mean bush. I was trying to protect some younglings back then. They boarded our ship and I was taken. It didn't take them long to discover my disloyalty to their goddamn Empire. I've been here ever since." Said the clone. "I remember one very well. He was a great leader, I think he's...uh...Caleb something. Caleb Dume, I think." He continued.

"That's my commander. He's a great man, and father." Replied Zeb. "Has anyone tried to rescue you guys?" He asked. "No. We're just forgotten." The pilot sighed, knowing that their identity was entirely disavowed.

45 kilometers above...

"General Bridger, meet soldiers Maze, Ordo and Atin. They'll be under your command throughout the mission. Your objective is to land above the prison and take the command center in order to trigger a massive breakout. Once you let them loose, we and Phoenix Squadron will approach and extract you. Good luck."

"All teams we're green! We're green!" Yelled Kal from the cockpit of the modified Gonzati class transport. The cargo ramp opened below Spectre and Delta team, exposing them to the vacuum space.

The clones jumped, and descended into the unknown territory of Teth.

"43 kilos till touchdown." Said Kal through the comms. "Be advised, we will not be able to provide air support up here, so make sure you stick to the shadows as long as you can." He continued.

"Copy that. Spectre 1 out." Replied Ezra. The team continued to descend as the breeze started to hit their faces. "All units comm check." "Spectre 2 online." "Spectre 3 online." "Spectre 4 online and ready." "Spectre 5 online." Ezra tuned his comlink and turned to Delta squad. "Delta, you good?" He asked.

"Affirmative, Spectre 1." Replied Boss, the commander of Delta squad. "41 kilometers. We're picking up three groups of new signals five clicks below you. Enemy patrols. Prepare to activate cloak on my mark." Said Kal. "Roger. Activating cloak." Said Boss.

The clones' armor began to fade piece by piece. Soon, they were completely invisible and zoomed past the TIE patrols without getting any attention. "Overlord copies all. All teams are off the radar. Have fun down there. Out."

"32 kilometers!" Exclaimed Ezra. "How long is this gonna take?" Asked Atin. He was a veteran, seen in action on Qiiura and Olanet. But even he couldn't stand long waits. "Just a few more minutes! At least no one's shooting at us now!" Answered Ezra.

"20 kilometers!" He yelled again as the commandos broke through the clouds and continued to free fall down to the prison. "Just asking, but what the hell are the clones doing in here?" Questioned Ordo. "This is one of the most remote places in the whole galaxy!"

"Because being far from civilization is an advantage. No one ever hears from them, so they will lose their hope, and eventually work for the Empire. Ask Darman and Niner in case you got questions." Replied Atin. Ezra interrupted them as they went through another layer of clouds. "Cut the chit-chat. We have a visual on the facility. Prep your rocket packs."

"Yes general." Answered the clones. The team activated their jet packs when they were only a few hundred yards away from the roof of the prison, and everyone had a safe landing. "Delta, take the command center. We'll follow the prisoners, RV on platform 5. Sabine, take Ordo with you and sweep the main levels. I'll head for the isolation cells."

"Copy that, dear." Replied Sabine. Ezra cut a hole in the middle of the roof and jumped in, followed by Sabine and the rest of the clones. Sabine saw a stormtroopers walking towards them and snapped his neck. She and Ordo dragged the body to a room and locked the door. "Di'kut." Said Sabine as she left another star bird marking on the stormtrooper's helmet.

"That'll piss them off. Let's go. Don't wanna miss the party." Replied Ordo.

Meanwhile...

The members of Delta squad converged outside the command center. "This should blow the door." Said Fixer as he pulled out a thermal detonator from his bandolier. "Breaching now." Said Scorch. The door was blown into shards, and Delta poured into the command center, taking out every officer and buckethead in their path.

"We're clear. Let's get to work." Boss smirked under his helmet.


	12. Chapter 12: What doesn't kill me

Galactic date: 18 December, 2 BBY

Location: Teth

"Spectre 1, I've patched into their systems. Your friend is in level 4, cell 133." Said Sev. "Copy that. Unlock all the door on my mark." Ordered Ezra. The team managed to find a turbolift and everyone got inside.

"Guess we're just gonna stick together." Said Sabine. "So uh...that Mando over there. They say it's your...what's the word I'm looking for?" Ordo chimed in, but was interrupted by Atin. "That brings up some old history. You still remember that guy called Darman? It's a similar story. Hell to that traitor. He joined the Empire. Damn."

"Cut the chatter. Feels like we're stopping." Said Ezra. The team drew their weapons and aimed at the door. A stormtrooper was whistling right outside the door, and was blasted into space dust by the clones.

"Can't believe I was counting on you to get us out. But thanks kid, I owe you one." Said Zeb when he saw the sight of Ezra's team sprinting to his cell. Ezra sliced open the lock and helped Zeb out. "You owe me a lot more than one, captain. Let's get out of here." The rest of the squad cut open the remaining cells and freed the clones inside.

An officer was walking towards them, with a cup of coffee in his hand. Ordo heard him, and quickly landed a knife in his neck and threw him in an empty cell. "Good night." Ezra lifted his arm and tuned his comlink, "Delta, you got the nod. Ready for phase 2." a deep voice came from the other side. "Copy that. Be advised, I see an officer with a red lightsaber headed your way."

"Karabast. Is everyone secure?" Asked Ezra. "Negative, the whole 99 and 1409 are missing." Replied Atin. "They can't be far, let's go." Sabine ran back to the turbolift but was force choked by someone, stopping the Mando in her tracks. "They're onto us! Go! Don't worry about us. This is our fight." Ezra yelled and drew his lightsabers. He leaped at the inquisitor and forced him to drop Sabine.

"Mi hermana...I will finish you today!" Roared the inquisitor. He ran towards Ezra, but was blocked by a darksaber. And the three began a brutal fight to the death. At one point, Five started spinning his lightsaber and caught Sabine outmatched. Ezra ran at him, trying to turn the tables, but was repelled by Five to the other side of the level.

He was about to launch a final blow when another cry filled the level. Five turned around, only to see a man in black and red heavy armor leaping towards him. The next thing he knew, he was threw on the ground and knocked out cold. "Guess we are taking prisoners." Said Sabine while she bagged Five's unconscious body and carried him.

"I just opened the cell doors. It's gonna be a riot down there. Wait! Wait! I got eyes on 99. They're headed for the armory one level below you. Get there." Said Boss, who has been monitoring the team's movement the whole time. "On it. Over. Ordo, Atin, take the prisoners to their gear. Sabine! You're with me." Ordered Ezra.

"By the way, who just beat up him?" Asked Sabine in confusion. "I did." Replied a deep and heavy voice. It was an old muscular man with only a pair of trunks and a vest on him. "Name's Wrecker. It's good to see you, general." He continued. "Let's go find my brothers. They're a floor below us."

"Precious cargo secure, general. Bring the fleet." Said a voice from Ezra's comlink. "Good. Phoenix squadron, you got the green light. May the force be with you." Ezra and the rest to the turbo lift and went to the ground floor. The door hissed open, and Ezra found himself staring at dozens of barrels of a blaster. "Karabast."

"Delta, we've been compromised! Don't do anything stupid." Said Ezra. "This is lieutenant Lyste! Drop your weapons or be fired upon! You have three seconds to comply!" Without warning, the ground in front of Ezra exploded, sending the stormtroopers sky-high. Moments later, two Munificent class frigate loomed above them team and a chatter came from his comlink. "Sorry about the delay, master jedi. My name is Cham Syndulla, at your service."

"Good to see you guys. We need you to keep the heat off us! Half of the Empire is on us!" Yelled Ezra. "You got any gunships up there? We need immediate evac for 40 plus personnel." He continued. "You got it. ETA 1 minute." Ezra and Sabine drew their sabers and deflected blasts from all directions while Delta rappelled down from the control room and regrouped with the rest.

Another stromtrooper ran at Ezra, but was sliced in half by his saber. "Syndulla you're gonna get us out or what?" Questioned Ezra. "Easy jedi. We're on approach." Seconds later, a flight of LAATs landed ahead of them. Everyone got inside the gunship, but just when they were about to take off, a stormtrooper ran at the gunship and shot Ordo in the arm. However, he was finished off by Zeb's bo-rifle. "You can't kill me, not today."

Soon the flight was on its way back to the ship. "Get us off this planet. Anywhere but here." Said Ezra. "Mission complete. Heading home."

Meanwhile...

Kanan was sleeping in the interrogation room. He looked around the room and saw nothing but a man with a black mask. Darth Vader himself. "We meet again, jedi." Said the Sith Lord. "You won't get a damn from me." Kanan scoffed. He knew he had to stay strong, for the crew and his family.

"I'm not so sure about that. Allow me to introduce, Starkiller, my greatest ally." Grunted Vader. Starkiller approached Kanan and squeezed his face with his iron grip. "Not a common practice, jedi. Doing a little...something something with a twi'lek. Rare as Lasat." Laughed Marek. "Do you mind leaving us alone, master?" He continued.

"I have faith in you, my apprentice. Do not let me down." Said Vader right before he stepped out of the interrogation and disappeared from sight. "Now you better start talking so I can end your misery quick, Jedi. Oh, and Hera's." Demanded Marek as he paced around the room with a concerned face.

"Let's talk about your old man. He was a great Jedi, one of the last survivors of order 66 back then. He was a close friend to my master." Replied Kanan. "Why the hell are we talking about my father?" Marek questioned, but with a rather less confident voice. "Why? His death haunted me, like, like a...why do you even want to bring up him?"

Kanan grinned under his breath. He was right, Vader did get his hands dirty for a new apprentice.

"Because Vader killed your father, and I can prove it."


	13. Chapter 13: Gathering storm

"What the hell do you want from me? You killed my sister two years ago. You got what you wanted, what else is making you so greedy?" Asked Five. He was apprehended on Teth just a day earlier, and now, the Jedi were gathered in the interrogation room to finesse Kanan's location out of him.

"I want nothing but one, the whereabouts of my master." Ezra quickly changed his stern tone to his casual one. "Now, let's leave that aside, and do tell me about your past. Ahsoka, do you mind leaving us alone?" He continued as if two old friends were chatting in a solar bar. The only thing is the two were hardly friends. "Because from what I know, you were more than just another imperial recruit." He finished.

"Huh. What makes you think so?" Five groaned, but was left confused rather that raged by the jedi's answer. "I checked on you while you're still out cold. You had a shot in your chest almost 20 years ago. Actually 17. Vader didn't recruit you, he revived you." Said Ezra. "Now that's more interesting, rebel. Believe it or not, go on."

"You might think I'm bluffing, but I'm not. Even Vader has questions about the emperor. He is recruiting force sensitives across the galaxy to overthrow Palpatine and become emperor himself. That's the true reason he took you with him, along with this Starkiller. Ring any bells?" Demanded Ezra.

"CT-5555, this is your true identity man. Vader's been playing you the whole time!"

"The day the Empire attacked your village, the day Vader murdered your father, the day he 'saved' you from his own troops. Think of it Marek, you were beside your father when he died. He wasn't wounded by a blaster, but a lightsaber." Explained Kanan, in hope to turn the young Sith back to the right track.

"How did you know all this?" Asked Marek in desperation. "May I remind you I'm a Jedi myself kid. I can sense your fear, and there's plenty of them." Answered Kanan.

"But how could I still be alive?" Five held his head down, trying to avoid any further eye contact with anyone nearby. "I got the answer of that from the Jedi temple. It was Sidious. His men shot you, but was kept from dying by him. Then he washed your brain and locked you up in a tank until the Grand Inquisitor was killed!" Ezra hit his palm with his fist while he explained everything in front of Five. "You remember that. I can see it inside you. It was just locked away."

"He's been using you!"

"Who else down there could've been using a lightsaber?" Shouted Kanan. "Vader. Vader killed my father." Said Marek. "But how could this be?" He continued, still cannot believe that his master was the murderer of his father. "He wants the Jedi eradicated."

"It's never too late for a change." Said Kanan and Ezra.

15 minutes later...

"How's it doing down there general?" Asked Rex. He had been sitting in the mess hall with Ahsoka for quite a while already, talking about their past adventures during the Clone Wars. "You might wanna see the prisoner yourself Rex. And do be prepared for one hell of a surprise." Returned Ezra. "Any word on Kanan?" Ahsoka asked anxiously. "No. And I might need your help to make him talk."

"General Bridger, you're needed." A voice from Ezra's comlink interfered the silence in the hangar. "Alright. I'll be there in a moment. Just what exactly is going on?" Asked Ezra. The other side, Sato, told him about an Lambda class spaceship approaching the Kanera. Ezra glanced at the landing shuttle and put his hand behind his back, ready to pull out his lightsaber.

Smoke emerged from the ramp of the shuttle. To everyone's surprise, what stepped out wasn't a Sith or a pack of stormtroopers. It was Kanan, in his custom clone armor, along with the 'long lost' Galen Marek. "Good to see you in one piece Kanan." Sabine greeted. "How's Ramin?"

"You can start his training Kanan. He threw Chopper at me earlier today." Replied a relieved Ezra. "Bad news is he's gonna be Vader's next target." Ezra frowned. He heard footsteps behind him and turned around. Two men in blue-striped clone armor marched out of the hallway. "Ezra. This is ARC trooper Fives. Fives, Ezra Bridger, most badass jedi knight I've met besides Skywalker. And Fives, welcome back."

Two hours later, in the mess hall...

"So, master jedi, what did I miss all these years?" Asked the resistance leader Cham Syndulla. "Quite a lot actually. My master and Hera became uh...physically intimate during the war." Exra couldn't help but let out a slight chuckle under his breath. "And if that's not enough, this little kid I'm holding in my hands is your grandson, Ramin Jarrus Syndulla." Added Zeb.

"I'm betting that the general is gonna have a kid soon. Heheheh!" Laughed Gregor. Ezra and Kanan looked at each other, pretending that they have no idea what's going on. "Which one?" They asked in sync.

"I think he means the one in orange jacket." Whispered Fives. "Well, about time you're putting yourself back together, Fives." Said Rex. "I just wish Echo was with us, even though he is a total jerk." Replied Fives. His cheerful young(surprisingly) face hid his sadness of turning against his own brothers and killing their allies without regrets.

"Believe it or not Fives, he's just over there, sitting with the other clones." Said Rex. Fives' head bounced back by a bit like he was hit by the recoil of a gun. He got up, stunned and shocked, and strolled to the table where Echo was chatting away with Delta and 99.

"Didn't know you're still alive Echo." Said Five as he patted Echo's cybernetic arm. "Yeah. It's a surprise r...what the...Fives?!" Screamed Echo. His jaw dropped wide open. Seeing him alive was a shock he never prepared for. They were brothers in arms, they always counted on each other to watch their backs. And now, these long lost brothers are finally reunited, as the rebels fighting for the good of the Galaxy.

Galactic date: 19 December, 2 BBY

Location: Concordia shipyard

Ezra was leaning against a fence, staring at the Darksider and drowning himself in his own memories. He knew deep down, the crew actually wanted him to propose, so bad. But he had no idea how to make this happen.

"It's gonna be a big day for you, Sabine. The freedom of your home world." Said Ezra. Sabine, standing beside him, stared into his blue eyes. "Yeah. We still got a long way to walk, though."

"I know." Ezra paused for a few seconds before saying another word. "Darn. I'm running out of words right now." He continued. Sabine didn't say a word. All she could do was holding Ezra tight in her arms.

Sabine broke the silence after a long while. "Just trying to get ourselves some calmness before the storm comes." She pressed her lips on Ezra's right after she finished her sentence. She let her body relax as Ezra held on her hips and stayed there.

Jaden was running down when he saw the two kissing beside the fence. "Come on you lovebirds, it's show time." He chuckled.


	14. Chapter 14: The river campaign

Galactic date: 19 December, 2 BBY

Location: Sundari city, Mandalore

An officer with a cup of caf was whistling in the headquarters of the imperial academy. "How's it going in the city?" He asked. "Quite a big gathering today. The people are down in the streets, chanting." The officer took the comms and placed it on his ear.

"Die...die Almeca..."

These were the only words he could hear. "The prime minister is gonna be pissed."He leaned against a control panel and stared at their stellar scanner. "Still no response from the blockade?" He asked. "I'm afraid so. Probably just a rusty comm. Best take is to send a courier up there." Replied the operator.

"Then do it." Ordered the officer. "Viszla station, I'm staring at one big bogey in your sector. Please verify." He continued. "What kind of a joke is this? That's a negative. You better run some diagnostics for malfunction." Answered the other side. The officer frowned, and turned his attention to the other corner of the scanner. "Randan station, I got one hundred plus bogeys in your sector. Please advise."

A mocking voice came from the other side. "You're seeing blind spots officer. We're all clear here. Wait! I got meteors crashing down thirty mikes from here. That what you're picking up, sir?" The officer walked away while the operator answered. "Not likely. Our scopes can't be that faulty. Should've picked it up a long time ago."

"Uh...Alpha station, we might have a slight system fault here. Advise you to run diagnostics." The officer said in a casual voice. "They're all over the sky!" Screamed a panicked officer from the other side. Air attack sirens muffled the transmission. "Say again Alpha station, what is going on over there?"

"I'm looking at the whole House Viszla up there! How the hell did they get to the surface?" He shouted. "All stations be advised, we lost the blockade. We have an imminent threat of a full-scale invasion. Prepare yourselves." Ordered the officer.

Meanwhile, above the imperial academy...

The Darksider hovered above the academy, deploying gauntlet fighters and Mandalorians all over the sky. The walkers below fired at the Mandos above, but was quickly torn apart by a couple of rockets. The first wave, led by Ezra, landed in front of the wreckage, he drew out his lightsaber and cut down nearby stormtroopers. "Everyone check your fire. Do not shoot at the cadets unless they do so!" He ordered.

"You got it!" Replied Jaden, who was just deployed in another Gauntlet fighter. Ezra and a squad of Mandos burst end through the enemy lines and gunned down everyone trying to stop them. "C'mon! Don't let up!"

"Secure the cadets! Take them back to the ship!" Yelled Jaden. He saw a group of cadets and stormtroopers attempting to escape in a gunship. He activated his rocket pack and went after it. Moments later, several stormtroopers were thrown out and the gunship was redirected back to the Darksider.

"Why exactly are we attacking an academy, sir?" Asked a Mandolorian. "These kids were taken from their homes and families, if we can bring them back in one piece, we can rally the support of the people and our job here would be a lot easier." Replied Sabine through the comms.

"Get internal! There could be more inside! Sabine, do what you're best at. Blow up the gunships!" Said Ezra. He ran inside and disengaged his lightsaber. "Keep your eyes peeled. They could be anywhere." He drew out his rifle and led his men down the corridors and hallways, gunning down more imperial officers and stormtroopers as they progressed. "We have to get to the command center," Said Ezra. "so we can make a broadcast against the Empire and let them know their true colours."

"To the turbolift." The team crammed inside and the lift went upwards. Soon, the doors slid open, and the team unleash a killing spree upon the outmatched stormtroopers and officers. "The command center is secure. Showtime." Ezra calibrated the terminals and soon, he was at a live broadcast.

"People of Mandalore!" He yelled. "You may know the Death Watch as your worst enemy. But no, we are not. Not today. The Empire's actions have torn apart countless families just for their undying lust of power, I'm sure some of these people are standing among us today." He continued.

"Today we come here, not to invade your cities, but to liberate them, and reunite families torn by the Empire! For Mandalore!" He finished his short speech and signed off, leaving the crowd in absolute awe and hope. "Not bad for a Jedi." Commented one of the Mandos.

"Secure this facility, then we will move on to Viszla city." Ordered Ezra. "Never thought I'd trust the Death Watch." He whispered under his breath and boarded a gauntlet fighter and headed back to the Darksider.

"Talk to me Sabine, how bad is it down there?" Asked Ezra as the gunship made its way back to the hangar of the destroyer. "A dozen wounded. No one killed. A rousing success." She replied. "And the cadets?"

"They'll be re-educated and returned to their homes. But it's their choice whether to join us or not."

A while later...

Ezra was sitting in his cabin with the doors closed. He took out his hologram and turned it on. He heard an aged voice from the other side. "This is Rex, who's this?" "I need to talk to Kanan." Said Ezra. His master has brought the clones with him to attempt another snatch and grab mission on the Zygerrian king, and he had a feeling thins would go south, again.

"General, it's your apprentice." Said Rex. Soon, the clone disappeared from the projector and a young man in green and white armor took his place. "Good to see you in one piece Ezra. How's it going down there?" He greeted. "Never better. We just took down an academy and now we're pushing to Viszla City." Returned Ezra. "You better watch yourself out there. Rumor has it that the prime minister has hired a skilled swordsman in addition to his bodyguards. May the force be with you."

"And you." Replied Ezra as he signed off and placed his hologram into his pouch. He soon heard a knock outside his door. A familiar voice came from outside, it was Jaden. "You good in there, E?" He asked. "Good as gold. What's next?" Said Ezra.

"What's next is we have to take Viszla City in the night. You better grab a few doses of adrenaline and a pillow my friend. It's gonna be a rough fight."

"A rough fight huh? Hell yeah." Ezra grinned.


	15. Chapter 15: Return of the king

**AN: Sorry about the waiting on my other story, I'm a little short of ideas.**

It's the beginning of the end. Viszla fell just yesterday, after a grueling fight that lasted for a solid month, and now we're mounting for a final offensive in the capital and execute kill or capture on prime minister Almec. Cheating death wasn't news anymore for us. Sometimes we find ourselves only inches from having dinner with the Grim Reaper. But it comes, eventually.

Not saying that I'm dying, but we lost Katan to the swordsman bodyguard just last night. That's right, Darth Maul was behind all of this. He's returning, and he's trying to stop us, and slaughter us all with all his anger and hate to us, for what we did back at the time of the Clone Wars.

Only two choices remain. Death or freedom. I may fall tonight, at the heart of their evil. I may be defeated by Maul, by the Empire. But at this very moment, millions will rise and stand, against our true enemy.

The end is near, and we all know what had to be done. I know I might not live to deliver this message, but I'll just say it. Sabine, I love you, and I'll be there for you, always.

Signing off.

Galactic date: 17 January, 1 BBY

Location: docks of capital Sundari, Mandalore

A dagger-shaped shadow loomed above the skies of the outer dome of Sundari, the deep roaring sound of the engines of the Darksider filled the people's ears. They knew the Death Watch is here, not to destroy their homes, but to return them a free world.

Dozens of Gauntlet fighters painted the sky like dots, spinning it's rotating wings and blasting at every TIE fighter that got in their way. Several of the Gauntlets were shot down, but most of the Mando troops inside got out safely, along with the rest of the invasion force.

"Let's get'em boys. And keep your eyes open, that Sith can be anywhere. And when you see him, do not engage him directly. Contact me and I'll work my magic." Said Ezra just before the first wave landed on the dome. Ezra found an exhaust vent and hopped inside. "Get in here and start planting explosives. We need to open a hole for our forces."

Soon, hundreds of round and tiny devices were planted in every corner of the vent system. Jaden, who made a touchdown afterwards, activated his comlink. "Is it all set?" Ezra soon received his call and wasted no time to answer. "You're good. Do it."

Moments later, the entire vent system was turned into solar dust, allowing the Mandos to jump in by rocket packs. Patrols of imperial police gunships were caught in the ambush, and couldn't stand a chance against the dreaded warriors.

"Let's get that SOB." Sabine cursed under her breath. She was vengeful by the loss of her mother, and her blood was boiling for a fight. She was at the brink of going rampant, and so is Ezra. The two diverted from the main forces and flew straight to the palace. Ezra reached the palace first, and soon Sabine's comlink crackled to life. "No sign of him. He must've gotten...kssh...aggghh!..."

The comlink went static, and Sabine could already smell trouble from her spot. She quickly accelerated and headed towards the main entrance, where she found out the terrible truth she wished that never happened: Ezra was levitated in the air by Maul, with a small trail of smoke coming out from his chest. His lifeless body was thrown to the other end of the throne room. Sabine's heart was now only inches from shattering like glass, she realised she just lost two of her loved ones in just 24 hours, and it was just too much for her heart to take.

Her breath became unstable, her eyes were filled with tears, and she could barely keep herself from falling on her knees. "You and your rebel friends, trying to star a little revolution, a little uh...rebellion? Simply pathetic. This ends today." The Sith mocked, paying no attention to the anger and grief of the vengeful Mandalorian. "So be it, a-hole." Muttered Sabine.

She ran forward with all her power and ignited her darksabre for one final fight. Maul drew his, and deflected the Mandalorian's blow. She clashed her saber with Maul's and launched a kick onto Maul's robotic legs, setting him off balance. Maul rolled just be before Sabine stabbed the ground. He got on his feet and threw a powerful punch into her visor, blinding her.

Sabine panted briefly and threw her helmet aside. She rushed at Maul, only to encounter a wave of force-lightning generated at her. She managed to deflect most of it, but she was pushed back by the blast. Eventually, Maul launched a force push and sent Sabine flying to the other end of the room, leaving her mortally wounded. Blood dripped from her forehead and mouth, and it seemed the Sith has finally accomplished his revenge against the jedi and the Mandalorians.

However, to Maul's surprise, Sabine was able to pull out her pistol with her last strand of strength. She held down the trigger, and Maul was shot in his shoulder. Unfortunately, Maul was only lightly injured, he pulled Sabine towards him and threw her across the room, rendering her unconscious. He pulled up his hood, and marched out the throne room with an evil grin on his face.

But as the ancients said, he who laughs last laughs longest. Maul soon found himself exposed to the rain of yellow bolts headed straight for him. He managed to deflect the first few, but he finally met his demise when Jaden, who has already received the sad news of his friend's death, unleashed a battering volley of punches to his head. He fell, and the Mandalorian drew his pistol and made sure of his downfall for good.

It was the end, and Mandalore was free, at a very high cost. The rebels have lost one of their best jedi, and potential battlemaster ever to be born in this galaxy. And despite being sworn enemies of the Jedi for a long time, the Mandalorians gave him a proper funeral and became one of the Alliance's strongest allies. They've lost hundreds of great soldiers in this movement as well, but none of them could be compared to the death of the man that united all of Mandalore and fought like a true warrior.

Hearing the loss of Ezra has also taken its toll to every crew member of Phoenix squadron. The Ghost still functioned without any faults, but the atmosphere seemed empty without the Mando-chasing Lothalian. Even Zeb was mourning for him, they used to be mortal enemies in every manner, but Zeb discovered that this boy was no street-rat that would bother the living daylights out of him, he'd been like a brother to him.

The clones were even lost in this mayhem. Rex had been a close friend and mentor to Ezra, aiding him in his fighting skills and his relationship with Sabine. Not even the most emotionless Chopper could withstand this pain, the loss of his prank buddy was unbearable to him.

With grief and sadness in the crew's heads, they were forced to move on, and go further into the battle to defeat the Empire.


	16. Chapter 16: Anubis

Why is it always one spared, while another taken?

I don't know. We've already lost thousands of good men just to keep ourselves from being wiped out by the Empire. But what's the worst is that Ezra, and my mother, are gone. Sometimes I wish they killed me instead, for giving him a cold shoulder all these years of fighting. I should've realised it earlier, that he's more that just a street rat.

Goodbye Ezra, and thank you. You will be remembered in our hearts.

Galactic date: 1 February, 1 BBY

Location: Ghost

The crew gathered around the dejarik table with a hologram on it. It's no big difference in the ship, but without the flirting lothalian on board, it all seems empty. "The only way we can honour Ezra is to liberate his home world." Said Hera, still clouded by the lost apprentice. "We'll start with this airbase in the middle of the city." She continued.

"This time we'll blow up the whole base, and not just a fraction of it." Suggested Sabine. "Agreed. We'll roll hard within a hour. Let's make this fight worth fighting." Kanan finished. The crew headed back to their quarters, putting themselves back together to finish what they started a long time ago.

Meanwhile...

"How's he doing?" Asked Skirata. "He's stable for now. But he's still unconscious, Kal. We'll have to wait for a while till he's back on the grid." Replied Ordo. "Do whatever you can Ordo, but don't put too much weight on him, Anubis is still an experimental device. You know that right?" Ordo glanced at the sick bed beside him. "Yes sir." He replied casually.

All of a sudden, the body lying on the bed opened his eyes and started gasping violently. "Okay! Calm down my friend. You're ok, we got you." Ordo reassured the patient in panic attack. "Just take it easy. Breathe slowly, that's right, that's my boy. How do you feel?"

"Where the hell am I?" Asked the patient. "This is Polis Massa, a medical station we recovered years ago." Answered Ordo. "This little device on your chest is your lifeline for the next few years. Hopefully shorter. Whatever you do, do not break it." The clone continued. He ordered a 2-1B medical droid to look after the patient and told him to take care of himself. Then, he marched out of the room and went to meet Kal.

"Is the boy good?" Kal questioned with an anxious tone. "Because we'll have a serious problem if anyone discovers our experiment." He continued sternly. "He's doing fine Kal. What is Anubis anyway?" Asked Ordo curiously. There weren't many ways to bring a dead person back to life, and if there is, it usually involves a lot of dark magic.

"It's a project first invented by the Empire. When Darth Vader found himself short of men, he decides to go and revive some skilled clones that fought alongside with him during the clone wars. That guy called Fives was one of his test subjects, but since it was sill a prototype at that time, his face became grey and along with some other adverse side effects with him. Don't worry, he's getting better now."

"How did you find out about all these?" Asked a surprised Ordo. "I didn't. Our informant Galen Marek did. He even dug up some dirty paperwork about the death of ex-minister Tua. Now the Phoenix have potential proof to clear their names. In other words you won't see them anytime soon." The older Kal Skirata explained. "Now get back to work son, we need him for the battle we're about to begin." He continued.

Instead of following orders, Ordo activated his hologram and contacted the best advisor he could find: Fives, and urged him to head to the watery planet to watch over the patient. "Fives, I need your help, fast and quick." Said Ordo. "Is there a reason you're talking like this? You sound like you're playing hide and seek with the Empire." Fives joked, unaware that the live of a fellow warrior is at stake. "It's not that simple, or I would've never called you. Can you recall how Vader revived you?"

Fives frowned, he is in no mood to bring up this topic anymore, even though he is alive and well thanks to it. "Why do yo think I want to talk about that? I'd rather die if I found out..." He was interrupted when Ordo started shouting at the hologram with all his might. He could smell Ordo's fury through the blue image. "This is not up to you to choose Fives, that project used to bring you back to life? We're using an improved version to save your friend. And we need your help, NOW!" Five was growing impatient, but knowing it was used for a better purpose managed to calm the rampant clone down. "You better tell me that particular person is worth saving." Warned Fives. "Explain."

A while later, Fives was in the mess hall of the Kanera with a few clones on board the ship, completely shaken up. He sat beside his best friend, Echo, and the two chatted away just like the old days of the Clone Wars. "Echo, I have a sticky problem in my hands, and I need a little help." Echo turned his head to the man from the dead. "Shoot." Fives explained everything to Echo without drawing any attention from the rest of the crew. Echo stared at him, he could not believe his ears. "You're kidding. He had a saber stuck in his chest." He muttered.

"And he pulled this saber out. I need to find a way to get to Polis Massa." Said Fives. "Alright alright. Flying out in _any_ spaceship would be too high profile, so we can rule that out. These people know how to track down an escape pod, and they'll find you pretty soon if you do so." Fives crossed his hands, eager to hear more about his plans to leave the ship without being spotted. "I guess I can only talk to him through transmission then."

"There is a way, though." Echo broke the silence. "Our next destination is to Concord Dawn, if you can somehow jump ship when the fleet reaches the asteroid field, you can fly your way to the moon where the protectors are stationed. They'll help you out." Fives' eyebrows raised. He's been on the craziest missions the galaxy threw at him, but using asteroids to walk to a moon was a whole new level. "I know you can do this, Fives. The boy's counting on you. Get it done."

The two were interrupted when an announcement filled every corridor of the ship. "This is commander Sato. Prepare for hyperspace jump." Fives grinned. "Well, guess it is time to gear up." He left the mess hall and headed to the armoury for his mission in space.


	17. Chapter 17: Godspeed

Galactic Date: 2 February, 1 BBY

Location: Lothal

This was the third time the Spectres hit the airbase on Lothal. Only difference is, they're here to honor a fallen brother. "Plant the package inside the transport. Zeb, Kanan, time for the distractions." Ordered Hera. Sabine was outside the perimeter wall, with shock explosives filled inside Ezra's republic pack. Zeb and Kanan drew their weapons and unloaded a volley of bolts onto the stormtroopers. The sirens were sounded, and the whole base was approaching them.

Sabine took this opening and leaped across the wall. She dashed to the transport parked at the middle of the airbase, dumping grenades along the way. The stormtroopers were still focused on the intruders outside, unaware that Sabine was well on her way to take out their transport. Sabine ran through the transport and planted the charges all over the ship. She managed to get outside the base just before Kanan and Zeb retreated in the speeders nearby.

The crew rallied back at the Ghost, and Sabine pulled out the detonator. "This is for Ezra." The transport was soon completely demolished, along with everything else in the base. Fireballs flew at all directions and dozens of bodies of stormtroopers lay beside the wreckage.

Meanwhile, in the asteroid belt of Concord Dawn...

A fleet of two Venator class destroyers and munificent class frigates jumped out of hyperspace. They were accompanied by several CR90 and two hammerhead corvettes. The fleet reduced their speed and hovered above the asteroids towards the moon where they'll have to move past them before they could jump into hyperspace again.

Inside one of the destroyers, the battle hardened Kanera, was clone commander Fives, who was about to jump to the asteroids and spacewalk to the Protector outpost for a spaceship to reach Polis Massa. "Looks like it's time." Fives muttered to himself. He grabbed a set of life support pack and attached it to his chest. He also got hold of a rocket pack, where he'll need it to spacewalk to the outpost.

He also installed a cloaking device on his armor to prevent his plans from being discovered. And now, he was all set. He just had to wait of Echo in the hangar to give him the green light.

Echo volunteered to fly air patrol that day in order to let Fives hide under his ship and make the jump. Fives got under his A-wing and activated the cloak when no one was looking. Soon, the patrol was airborne, and it's time for Fives to find out if his ride was worth the price.

Minutes later, Echo banked his ship left, signaling Fives to get off his fighter. Fives took a deep breath, and made his jump into the asteroids. Echo tuned his comlink so only he himself and Fives could hear their conversation. "Watch your cloaking gauge. Moving or using your jetpack will drain it out." He advised. Fives activated his magnetic boots and landed on the nearest asteroid, safe and sound, for now.

"Good. Now hop your way to the moon. And keep an eye on your gauge. Good luck." Said Echo as his fighter turned away from him and stayed near the fleet. Fives then jumped from one asteroid to another, carefully monitoring his gauge and avoiding collision with other asteroids.

It was a simple task, but it felt like it was going to last for eternity. Two hours have passed, and Fives was still hundreds of miles away from the moon. But then came a game-changing twist, the fleet was once again in hyperspace. Fives panted in relief and disengaged his cloak. He fired up his rocket pack at maximum power and drifted towards the moon.

Another two hours later...

Fives looked down, and saw the purple land of the moon just a tower's height below him. He spotted the outpost with his visor and headed there without wasting another second. Soon, he was on the ground, just outside the outpost. He went it the nearest pilot he could find and greeted him. "Where the hell did you came from?"

Fives found himself stuck in another situation: he was staring at the barrels of three blasters held by some angry Mandalorians. "Take it easy people. I'm CC-5555 from Phoenix squadron. I need to get to Polis Massa." Replied Fives. "If a ship is all you really need, we have one over there. Now get off this moon before my men get really angry." Ordered a Mandalorian who walked up behind the others. "Good. Thanks for the help."

Fives headed towards the direction the Mandos pointed him to, but he almost immediately regretted his decision when he saw a rugged, dusty TIE fighter lying in front of him. "Cheeky Mandos." He faked a laugh under his breath and checked the spare parts spread around the ship. "And now I have to install the hyperdrive myself. Great." He whispered sarcastically and got to work.

After another three exhausting hours, Fives was starving and low on energy, but the TIE was reassembled and ready to fly. He hopped in with a ladder and powered up the fighter. Soon, the engines were running and he is airborne. "Let's go."

Back on the medical station...

Ordo and Maze were walking down the hallway towards the sick bay. The two were chatting about the Anubis patient when Kal came out of nowhere and stopped them. "Have you got anything from Fives?" He asked worriedly. "He's on his way here. I'm sure it won't take him too long." Reassured Ordo. "You better be right, or this kid is staying here for good."

"Shouldn't we tell Phoenix about this?" Asked Maze. "No, not yet. They think he's dead, and so does the Empire. We can use this as an advantage and catch them off guard. You know what I mean right?" Returned Kal. "Oh...right. But it still seems a little wrong to me. They're a family after all."

"I know." Said Kal. "In the meantime, I think you should check on him, Maze." He continued. "Just my luck. Babysitting duty." Muttered Maze. He was interrupted when he heard someone clearing his throat behind him. "I'm not a kid, Maze." He said. The three blinked, not convinced of what they're seeing in front of them. "Good to see you, general. But I'm afraid you'll need some treatment before you're back into action again."

"Just make sure I won't miss it if I don't have to."


	18. Chapter 18: From the depths of Kamino

Galactic date: 3 February, 1 BBY

Location: Polis Massa medical station

"Sir, we're tracking a single TIE fighter entering our sector." Reported a Polis Massan officer. "Should we shoot it down?" He continued, but was interrupted when Ordo barged into the control room and stopped the officer. "No, wait! Patch him through."

"This is commander Ordo Skirata, identify yourself." Said Ordo. Soon, the comms in The control room crackled with a familiar voice. "This is Fives coming in, requesting for landing clearance." Said Fives from the other side. "Copy that. I'll see you in hangar 1-4. Ordo out." He immediately left the control room and sprinted to the hangar to welcome his much needed assistance.

"Good to see you, Fives." Greeted Ordo. "You too. How's the general?" Asked Fives as the two headed for the sick bay. "He's stable, but he isn't going anywhere far without your help, or at least advisory." Replied Ordo. He pulled out his clearance pass and scrolled it along the lock of the door. They went inside, and glanced at the patient lying on the bed.

"Back from the dead, general?" Greeted Fives. "Yup. I still don't get why all this has to be a secret." The patient replied in a frustrated voice. "We can't let the Empire discover this base. It's one of the last medical stations still active today. Anyway, what's keeping you from getting back into action?" Asked Fives.

"Feels like there's a blackhole inside me. Otherwise, I'm good." Fives cursed under his breath. He started thinking of how hard it was for him to get to this station, and the only reason was because of a simple symptom by Anubis. "I thought it was urgent. There must be something else." He grunted.

"Indeed there is. We have a Kaminoan defector here, Nala Se. You're not the only person that is being brought back from the dead Fives. Galen Marek was one of them too, along with a lot other clones you don't know." Fives' jaw dropped, but he was quick to recover from the shock. "So why did they ever exist?"

"Whatever the Empire has in stall for them, it's never good." Said the patient as Fives tossed him a dose of painkiller. "So, who's ready for a swim?" His face of agony turned into a battle-ready grin. He held on the side of the bed and stood up with a deep exhale escaping his mouth. "That's the general Bridger I know." Commented Ordo."Time to beat the Empire to the ground."

Four hours later...

A lone TIE fighter jumped out of hyperspace above the space of Kamino. Inside was a small strike team with the task of investigating the mystery of the undead army buried in the Kaminoan city of Tipoca. Their ship entered the atmosphere and made a final approach to the domed city.

"Pop smoke." Ezra left the seat and opened the hatch above him, allowing the two other clones to climb out the cockpit. "Time to bring this bird down." The three jumped, leaving the doomed aircraft to be destroyed by the charge set in it during the flight. They splashed down into the waves below seconds later and swimmed their way to the facility miles away.

The imperial officers have almost no attention to the downed TIE outside their city, and simply ignored the incident, giving the clones a rare opportunity to infiltrate the city from underwater. "Find a hatch." Ordered Fives. "There's no hatch underwater. We'll have to climb our way to the overpass on top of us to get into the city." Replied Ezra.

"Can't we just cut a hole through here?" Questioned Ordo. "I'd love to, but my lightsaber doesn't work underwater. We'll have to do this in the hard way. Let's go." Replied Ezra. The three swimmed to the surface and fired their grapple to the bottom of the overpass. They flew through the air like a rocket launched from a submarine and clinged under the bridge.

"Two guards above. Gonna need to take them out quietly." Whispered Ordo. "I got this." Ezra grinned as he force choked the two guards above him with ease. The stormtroopers were levitated in the air, hands stuck on their throats. They struggled until they were reduced to lifeless bodies hanged in the air. Ezra threw the bodies into the rumbling ocean and led the two clones inside the facility.

"I checked the schematics. It appears their lair is deep inside the city. Every route is heavily guarded by various types of guards. We don't know which is which. The vent system are divided into dozens of sectors, so crawling won't work for us either." Groaned Fives. "Wait, is that the armoury?" Ordo pointed at the square in the map. "That's right. This is Kamino man, I'm betting there are tons of goodies to salvage there." Fives smiled under his helmet.

"Let's go then." Said Ezra. The team sprinted to a stairwell and took down a pair of stormtroopers along the way. The three dashed down the stairs and unfortunately, ran into a cluster of e-webs and blaster bolts. Rockets flew overhead just inches from blowing their heads up. "What now?" Shouted Ordo. Ezra looked around and spotted a door with a hazard warning placed on it. "That's the armoury! Get the door open, I'll cover you!" Said Ezra as he pulled out his pistol with his free arm and started gunning down stormtroopers that get in the clones' way. Troopers fell and were replaced one by one.

"Damn! I'm locked out of the system! Any ideas?" Shouted Fives. Ordo then noticed a clearance pass strapped onto a downed stormtrooper's waist. He charged out and knocked out every stormtrooper he saw and made a run for the body. "Hit the deck!" He yelled when he saw yet another rocket flying towards Fives. He ducked, and the rocket barely missed him and hit the lock mechanism behind him. "Screw this! I'll try to pry it open! Keep them busy!"

Fives aimed his rifle and punched dozens of holes on the door and slipped his fingers inside. Ezra rolled towards him and deflected every blast flying at him and Fives while Ordo was running around the horde, gunning down stormtroopers as he pleases. "Ordo get back here! We need a little help!" Ordered the jedi. He reached for his belt and tossed a frag grenade into the middle of the stormtroopers. The ground beneath him shook violently as stormtroopers were sent flying across the hall.

Fives grunted and panted when the door was finally half open, enough for the rest to crawl or slide underneath. "Get inside! Now!" Ordo got in first and went prone to cover Ezra's entrance. The three quickly pulled the door down just before the stormtroopers reached it. The door vibrates when the pack rammed themselves against the 5cm thick dura steel. "We can't stay here forever." Reminded Ordo. "But that door's our only way out, literally." Fives pointed out.

"Okay. Somebody explain what are those." Ezra chimed in when he turned on the lights and found himself staring at three sets of blaze armor. "Because these things seem to be our best bet to get out without killing ourselves." He continued. "Holy hell. Now you're speaking my language." Ordo smirked in awe and astonishment. The three wasted no time to get inside the exoskeleton, and soon the three were up and ready to go.

"Let's do this."


	19. Chapter 19: Conspiracy

"Let's do this."

The three barged out of the armory with their new heavy armor, guns blazing. In less than ten seconds, the imperial garrison was reduced to nothing more than a mountain pile of corpses. "The turbolift over there should get us to the lab. Let's move." Said Fives.

They soon got inside the lift, ignoring the overweight warning. Ordo piped up once the turbolift started descending towards the lab. "I thought this suit was supposed to have a flamethrower." He said while staring at the right arm of his armor. "Guess they didn't ship that idea and decided a rotary cannon would be better. Looks like the Empire was right, for once." Replied Fives.

"Man. It sure is a long way down. Must be something big." Commented Ezra. "Hopefully the lift won't fall apart before we get down there." He continued. Fives checked his built-in data pad and frowned upon seeing the results. "They just initiated a full alert. This place is gonna be on lockdown." Said the veteran. "Not again." Groaned Ezra.

All of a sudden, the lift was jammed in place, and the clones were knocked off their feet. "Damn it! We'll have to blow the lift. Stand clear." He ordered as his shoulder-mounted rockets blew a hole in the lift and left the three soaked in the rain of Kamino. They activated their jetpacks and flew outside to blow up what's left of the turbolift.

"Let's go." Said Ezra.

Meanwhile...

Marek got off the Rogue Shadow, his personal ship, and headed to a round hut near his vessel. He lowered his hood, and a short green creature walked out of the hut to greet Marek. "Galen Marek, you must be." Said the creature. "I've come for advice, master Yoda." Returned Marek.

"In danger, your friend is, in the Kamino system." Said Yoda. "Vader, it is. Right, master Jarrus is. Confront him there you must. This, your final step will be. May the force be with you." After a long talk, Marek stood up and headed back outside, but not without leaving a thanks to the old grandmaster. "How did it go?" Asked Proxy, Marek's training droid. "We need to get to Kamino. Vader's there."

"Are you sure, Marek?" Asked Juno, his pilot. "I meditated with Yoda and found out. We have to go now." Marek retracted the ramp and the Rogue Shadow was soon in the air. "So how are you going to defeat your former master single-handed? You aren't getting any help." Warned a concerned Proxy. "I'm not alone down there, I can feel it."

Back on Kamino...

Three blaze clone troopers flew down the remains of the turbolift. They reached to bottom floor and blew open the doors, gunning down every stormtrooper in their way. "It should be just ahead." Said Fives. Ezra headed for the only door he could see on the floor and kicked it down with brute force. The three found themselves staring at rows of bacta tanks with clones inside it. "I guess the conspiracy was true. Vader IS trying to build a Sith army to overthrow Palpatine. Download everything you can find about these clones. In the meantime, we need to decide what to do with them."

"These people are alive. We can't just turn ourselves into murderers like the Empire." Said Fives. Ordo remained silent while he slid the stolen clearance pass down the side of the console. He plugged into the computer and overrode the security firewall within minutes. "I know you want to save these people general, but you saw what happened to Fives, they're far too dangerous to be kept alive." Ordo finally spoke up.

"I know your concerns Ordo. Here's the thing: you can't blame people on something that hasn't happened yet. I say we call in our old friend Kal to transfer everything to a secure location and see if we can do anything for these people." Said Ezra. Fives agreed with the general after a few more minutes of thinking. "Or maybe it's just a waste of time. I'm detecting a TIE advanced variant entering the atmosphere. It's just as I feared, it's Darth Vader."

But Ezra wouldn't take no for an answer. He demanded Ordo to tell him the progress of the download. "70%. And I've got a list of all the clone subjects here along with their profiles. Go ahead and take a look." Ordo answered impatiently. "Viper, Colt, Rada...Waxer. How is this..." Ezra was cut off by Fives when he started shouting like berserk. "Waxer, I know him."

"So who the hell is this guy? And what do we want with him?" Growled Ordo. "Wait. Isn't 'Waxer' the guy that lieutenant Numa told us about?" Asked Fives. "Waxer was her friend, her brother. And not to mention the hundreds of clones suffering down there. We have to get them out of this misery Ordo." He continued.

"Fine. Now what about the Vader problem?" Groaned Ordo. He noticed Ezra taking off his exoskeleton. "The hell are you doing?" "Trying to solve the Vader problem. I'll be topside. If you don't hear from me in half an hour, call Skirata." Ezra dashed out the room without warning, and in a mere few seconds, he vanished. "He takes up the heroism sometimes." Muttered Fives.

"Got it! Download complete! Let's get out of here!" Ordo shouted in joy when the download meter displayed on the console finally turned from red to green. "Negative. You heard what the commander said, we have to get as many people out as possible. So let's start hitting the bacta releases." Fives argued, unwilling to let his once fallen brothers die a second time. "Alright. But it's on you of they start beating the crap out of us when you release them." Warned Ordo.

"It's always been on me." Fives scoffed. The clones proceeded down to the rows of bacta tanks and started off with Waxer's. The bacta inside was soon emptied out, and Waxer was fetched out with the help of Fives and Ordo. "Stay with me brother. You'll get through this." He was laid down aside while the two clones continued to release the other clones. Some were too rampant Fives and Ordo were forced to kill them on the spot, while others we're lay down beside Waxer.

"That's the last of them. Now how do we get them out of here?" Asked Fives. "We can walk. Thank you, brother." One of the clones chimed in. The rest followed Fives and Ordo to find a way back to the surface while the lone Ezra was already dueling the dark lord a few kilometers above. "You will pay for what you've done to these people! Those were your OWN men!" Shouted the fiery Jedi. He jumped up, hoping to cut Vader into half, but missed. Vader took this opportunity to repel him onto the glass of his TIE fighter. He was about to slay him when a second TIE prevented him to by unloading rounds of cannon shots into him.

Vader turned around, and saw his former apprentice marching towards him with twin blue lightsabers and a furious face. "You will pay for what you did!"


	20. Chapter 20: The hunt is on

Galactic Date: 3 February, 1 BBY

Location: Tipoca city, Kamino

Vader's lightsaber clashed together with Marek's like two asteroids meeting each other in deep space. Marek tried to force the weight to his side, but failed. Vader managed to trip Marek and was ready to stab him in the chest. Ezra, watching the fight from the beginning, suddenly leaped forward and struck Vader. The dark lord deflected his blow and repelled Marek to the entrance of the facility, shattering the glass doors. Marek got on his feet quickly and sprinted towards Vader. He jumped up halfway and landed with a blow enough to knock Vader off balance.

"Together!" Shouted Marek. Ezra nodded and ignited his cross-guard lightsaber, catching Vader off guard. He was eventually cornered by Ezra and Marek, but insisted to put up one hell of a last stand. He slashed the ground beneath Ezra and threw him off balance, but Marek managed to stab his left arm and forced him to drop his saber. "It's over, Vader. We win." He bloated. Ezra soon got up, and pointed his green lightsaber at Vader's helmet. What happened next caught everyone by surprise: Vader force pushed himself over the edge of the platform and plummeted into the fiery ocean.

"It's only gonna end one way for him." Ezra and Marek then found their way to the main hangar, where Ordo, Fives, and the clones welcomed them. "Good to see you in one piece general. We have the bucketheads on the run, but it's not gonna last." Reported Ordo. "Then let's bring these men..." Ezra was interrupted by Marek when he showed him his datapad. Ezra took a closer look and saw an encrypted message from Kal Skirata. "Something's up. Just get them on the ship and bug out." They headed to a Arquitens light cruiser and left the surface of the planet. "I'm surprised these clones didn't start killing you already, general." Whispered Fives. "They think I'm an ARC, that's why. Hopefully they won't find out anytime soon." Ezra plopped down in the bridge and worked on the encryptions. He eventually cracked it and read the message inside.

"We have a situation, general. Our twi'lek allies just diverted to Garel for a manhunt mission. Their target is an elite commando of the Empire, squad 40. We need you to get to Garel, and link up with lieutenant Numa and Delta to find the squad. And if you can, bring Darman and Niner back. Skirata out."

"Well, looks like we're paying a visit to the Lothal Coruscant, or at least from what it looks like." Commented Fives. "I say you start taking out those inhibitor chips instead of babbling here, my friend." Ezra joked. He got to a console on the ship and activated the long range communications. There was no reply, but Ezra decided to leave a message anyway. "Just to let you know, Sabine, I'm alive and well. Spread the word while I'm not here. I'll miss you. Spectre 6 out." A smile was printed on Ezra's face. A sense of accomplishment filled his heart, for he was finally able to send his greetings to is long lost loved ones.

Three hours later...

The commandeered light cruiser jumped out of hyperspace just ahead of the blockade surrounding Garel. The cruiser reduced its speed and was hailed by the blockade. "This is star destroyer Dominate to light cruiser, please identify yourself and state your authorization code." Fives raced to the comms and answered their demand. "This is imperial cruiser Nexus Claw, clearance code Alpha Sierra 2284. Please verify." A dead silence filled the bridge of the Nexus Claw, the clones waited uncertainly for the imperial's next move. "Nexus Claw, you are clear to proceed. Good luck down there." Fives sighed heavily in relief and pushed the control joystick forward. The ship descended into the atmosphere of the city planet and touched down in a spaceport.

Ezra, Fives, Ordo, Waxer and Marek were the only ones that were still up for a fight, but Ezra gave Ordo and Marek strict orders to stay in the ship and look after the rest of the clones. The rest marched out, with Ezra and Fives wearing their regular ARC armour while Waxer was sitting inside a set of blaze exoskeleton. "So who exactly are we looking for?" Asked Waxer. "An old friend of yours." Ezra replied with a grin on his face. Waxer looked up in the sky, wondering who it could be. Fives gave a pat on his shoulder, reassuring him. "You'll find out in time." Ezra and Fives scaled the rooftops of the city while Waxer cloaked himself and disappeared in the crowd. The three trekked through the quarters of the city, but found no sign of the twi'lek and the clone commandos.

"Damn. We can't reach them _and_ we have no lead at all. How are we supposed to find them?" Fives groaned when the comms on his wrist crashed again. "Keep an eye on the lower levels. I'll see what I can do." Replied Ezra. He closed his eyes and followed the guidance of the midi-chlorians inside him. And the next thing he knew, he was looking inside Waxer's head.

Flashback

He saw blood, a lot of blood, spread on the battlefield. The bodies of fallen clones lay around him, with their blasters still in their grips. Ezra looked around, and suddenly found himself on Ryloth with Boil next to him. They were stacking up outside an alley. Ezra saw the two entering the alley, and was surprised to find a child standing in front of them. Apparently, that was Numa. Soon, Ezra heard voices of instructions echoing in his head.

Reality

Ezra shook his head violently to clear his mind. Now that he had the directions, he just had to inform the other and be on the move. "Fives, Waxer, do you copy? We have a fix on their location. They're in the spaceport, bay 2-5." Said Ezra. "Let's move." But before the three could make another step ahead, an explosion rocked the ground beneath them. "Over there. Damn it, that's where they are! We have to move ASAP!" Ordered Ezra. The three boost-jumped across the walls with their rocket packs and headed towards the smoke. As they got closer, they started to hear sounds of blasters getting louder and louder, muffled by the screams of wounded stormtroopers.

* * *

"Two more, on your left!" Scorch shifted his blaster and gunned down another two stormtroopers. "I got a bad feeling about this." Commented Sev, who was manning a machine gun and cutting down stormtroopers that poured out from the main entrance. "Wait. I think I hear something...are those jetpackers?" Said Numa. "Look! There!" Boss pointed at a group of three clones standing on the top of a wall. The trio jumped down and started wreaking havoc among the stormies while the rest picked off the stragglers. Soon, with the help of the three unexpected visitors, the bay was clear.

"Who...are these people?" Fixer stammered upon the sight of the three clones marching towards them. "I'm Ezra Bridger, back from the dead. Lieutenant, meet Fives and Waxer." Said Ezra. Numa's jaw dropped when she saw a bulky figure approaching her. She noticed the stylised art on Waxer's helmet and immediately recognised him. Waxer removed his helmet and revealed his big smile on his face. "You've grown, little one."

"Thought I'd never see you again..." Numa paused for a few seconds before finishing her sentence. "...brother." Waxer was caught off guard when the twi'lek threw her arms around his bulking armour. "Glad you're still here." She whispered. "I wodbt have been here if not for those two over there." The two were interrupted when Ezra sprinted towards them. "That's all well and good, but we got bigger problems right now."

Waxer broke the hug and turned at Ezra. "The Liberator is completely beyond repair, and we got Bucketheads en route to our position." The rest of the clones got up with their gear. "So let's get out of here. You got a ship, general?" Asked Boss. "Big enough to help us last for a while."

"Good. Delta, let's move."


	21. Chapter 21: Garel surgeon

Galactic date: 3 February, 1 BBY

Location: Nexus Claw

The two fire teams gathered at the ship's bridge, planning their next play. "So where do we start looking? Space lounges? Locals?" Asked Ezra as he stared at the hologram image of the infamous squad 40. "Fortunately that's not the only option we have." Numa switched the image to a young man with a heavy blaster in his holster. He was wearing a yellow and blue jumpsuit with dark jeans. "This, is Lando Calrissian. He has over hundreds of contacts just on Garel, and leave alone the rest of the galaxy."

"Aw, not this scum again! Last time I met him, he was trying to steal my..." He was interrupted when Fives landed a punch on his shoulder, signaling him to stop. "So you'd rather stay with a bunch of clones ready to use you for target practice?" Ezra sighed in frustration and held back his unpleasant memories of the smuggler. "Fine. Where do we start?"

"Like you said Sabine...I mean Ezra, the bars." Replied Numa. Fives couldn't help but curse under his breath. "General Jarrus, you son of a..." Waxer threw him his blaster and caught him by surprise. "Let's just get to work." Said Waxer. "Okay. Unless someone has a better idea, I vote we split up in pairs. I'll go with Marek. Waxer, you stick with your sister. Delta, it's your own call. Fives, Ordo, stay with the ship. Clear?"

"Yes sir." The clones replied in unison while Numa and Fives simply nodded. The crew headed outside with parts of their armor stripped, making their appearance more like a bounty hunter than a clone.

* * *

Marek strutted down the streets of Garel with his new friend. The two entered a bar and plopped down at the corner. "Huh. None of these guys seem to even have a clue a war is going on out there." Ezra groaned. "Hey kid. Isn't it weird to bring a child to a bar like this?" Marek pointed at a kid that was sitting at the other side of the bar. He was accompanied by a bounty hunter like man and an armed Ithorian.

"Too weird. I say we start with them." Said Ezra. "Agreed." The two got up from their seats and walked casually towards the child with their drinks. They leaned by the wall next to them and started chatting. "This Lando Calrissian is really getting on my nerves." Said Ezra. "Too bad we don't have the resources to put him on his knees." Marek made a fake grunt to get the bounty hunter's attention.

"Then you've found the right man. My name is Boil, former clone. And I can help you out with the right amount." The bounty hunter, Boil, spoke up, just as Ezra and Marek wished. "Sure. We could use a hand." Ezra replied casually, trying to hide the shock of discovering the lieutenant's second brother. "How much?"

"I don't take creds. I'll help you, if you can just fix my head." Boil groaned. Ezra knew exactly what he was talking about, and was quick to come up with a solution. "Well Mr. Boil, you've found the right man as well. Walk with me." Boil got up with his customized DC-15 and left his seat with the kid. "Here we go again, Statura."

Ezra quietly activated his comlink while the others weren't looking. "Waxer, we got a key man. He claims he can lead us to Lando." Waxer was drinking a bottle of Malastare brew when his comlink rang like an alarm. "That's some good news..." Waxer turned his attention to a smuggler bugging his sister a few seats away. "...but I got my own problems here. Gonna take some time."

"Hey try not to use your fists ok? We can't afford making new enemies right now." Ezra then asked Marek to head for Waxer's location while he brought the bounty hunter and his ward back to the Nexus Claw. His comlink suddenly crackled to life when he was only halfway there. "This is Delta-1, we found their hideout, or what's left of it. Sending coordinates to your hud."

"I'll send Waxer right now. Find whatever you can and return to the ship before 09:00. Understood?" Ezra transferred the coordinates to Waxer and continued to proceed back to the ship. "Yes general." Replied the clones. Waxer signaled Numa to lose the smuggler, but to his surprise, the smuggler tagged along. "It's all right. He's Lando. Good luck out there."

By now Ezra and Boil have already reached the Nexus Claw. He called to Ordo and helped Boil into the sick bay. The bounty hunter laid on the bed and awaited for their instructions. "You seem like you know what you're doing." Said Boil. "I just operated the same exact surgery fifty five times straight. I know what I'm doing." Replied Ordo. He gave Boil a dose of chloroform and he was soon out cold, allowing Ezra and Ordo to begin their work.

Removing an inhibitor chip was no walk in the park even for droids, not to mention manually. Despite with the help of Ordo's experience, The two were having a hard time trying to dig out the chip buried in Boil's head without causing permanent brain damage to him. Blood spilled on the bed every once a while, and it was not helping.

An hour has passed, and the two haven't even located the inhibitor chip yet. All of a sudden, Ezra yelled out and almost scared the living day lights out of Ordo. "Wait, see that plastic in his brains? That's the chip. Give me a clamp. We need to disconnect the chip from his head." Ordo nodded in agreement and grabbed the clamp at the table and handed it to Ezra. "Here comes the fun part. The chip is hard wired into his brain. Any use of force could result in severe injury or even death. I learned that the hard way just earlier today."

"Keeps getting better." Ezra muttered. He used the clamp to keep the chip from slipping back in while Ordo piled down his visor and analysed the structure of the chip. "Okay. I'll do the cutting, and when I do, you drop a little of this into the breach. Got it?" Said Ordo as he shoved a jar of goo to Ezra. The jedi couldn't help but place his hand on his mouth to keep himself from throwing up. "Ugh...all right."

Ordo severed the first vessel, and heard the bounty hunter's muffled screams under his oxygen mask almost immediately. Ezra quickly dropped a spore of the goo into the cut. Ordo suddenly shrieked and signalled Ezra to hold it. "Wait! Let me give him another dose first." He stabbed the tiny needle into Boil's neck, rendering him unconscious, again. "We need to make this quick. That was the last dose." He continued.

He then worked on the remaining three neural vessels and repeated their steps. A while later, the two finally managed to extract the inhibitor chip, along with another patch of blood. Ezra breathed heavily in relief and put his tools aside to check on the unfortunate clone. "It didn't go as well as we thought. He needs a bacta tank, now." Said Ezra. "The only problem is, every other tank in the ship is occupied." Replied Ordo.

"Damn. We'll have to switch him with another one in that case." Ordo nodded and lifted Boil to a bacta tank with a little help from Ezra. Eventually, they found one that was stable enough to rest without a tank. Soon, Boil's life was off the balance and the other clone was resting in the sick bay. Ezra panted and looked at Ordo, the two grinned and knocked their arm plate together, signifying their success.

Without warning, Fives and the rest of the team walked out, along with their catch, Lando Calrissian. "So, what did you get back there?" Asked Ezra. "Nothing much. But we can assume who they are after here. The Statura family. They're one of the most active rebel cells on Garel right now. We need to lend them a hand, sir." Reported Boss. "Believe it or not, he IS on our ship right now, inside the cabin, along with his bounty hunter friend."

Fives raised his eyebrow and looked at Ezra. "Who's that?"

"He's a decommissioned clone. We just got rid of his inhibitor chip a while back. His name is Boil."


	22. Chapter 22: Head to head

"He's a decommissioned clone. We just got rid of his inhibitor chip a while back. His name is Boil." Said Ezra. "So what've you got?" He continued. "The squad switches hideouts every 24 hours, and torch the place every once a while to cover their tracks. But we know exactly where they are in the next 24 hours. Hopefully they haven't found out their target is sitting in our ship right now." Replied Boss. Ezra noticed the lieutenant holding her head behind the clones, but decided to ignore it for now and concentrate on their mission.

"They'll be in the Devilion Casino, place is filled with civvies. So guns only as a last resort. It's a big find, and we've all got a score to settle." Said Boss. Ezra then ordered the men to gear up and left Numa alone with him. "You all right? You seem afraid when I mentioned that hunter." Said Ezra. Numa remained silent, but Ezra could tell something about the clone was holding her from speaking freely. "Hey. Don't freeze up now. We got a squad of elites to catch. Now what..."

He was interrupted when Numa finally spoke up. "Boil is the other clone that saved me on Ryloth." She whispered. The compassionate Jedi couldn't help but place his hand on her shoulder, reassuring her Boil will recover. "He'll be proud of you. They all will be. Come on, we got a mission to finish." Replied Ezra. "Delta, Marek, guard the ship will you?" He continued. The clones nodded and the two headed down to the armory where Ordo, Fives and Waxer were already waiting. "You good, general?"

Ezra nodded and fetched a cloak off the wall, followed by the rest of the clones. The team dragged out several speeders they found in the ship and headed towards the casino.

Half an hour later...

An old figure was staring at a hologram disk on a Dejarik table. Beside him was a group of muscular men with a commando blaster with them. "We've been compromised, commander. They're coming." Said one of them. "You are short-sighted Rede. Let them come, and we will bring them down, like we always do." Replied their commander. "I told you this Cody guy is experienced." Commented another man.

"Get topside and let's give our guests a proper welcome." Ordered Cody.

Ezra and the team parked their speeders outside the casino. They all entered and split up to different rooms, but found nothing but loads of disappointment. "We must've missed something." Ezra tapped his finger on his chin, trying to figure out the whereabouts of squad 40. "I'll go out and check the exteriors." Said Fives. He walked out casually through the main entrance, only to find himself staring at the barrels of four commando blasters and a full stormtrooper battalion. "General, I've been compromised! It's a trap!"

"Scanning...wait, the fifth brother? Why, you two-faced son of a..." Before Rede could finish his sentence, a stormtrooper was thrown off the roof and hit the ground, hard. Soon, stormtroopers fell one by one off the walls and were replaced by dozens of clone-armoured figures. "Surrender, people! It's over!" Said one of the men. "Not today!" Returned Cody. The next thing Fives knew, it was an all-out fight outside the casino.

Fives managed to seize one of the commandos when the rest were distracted and dragged him back inside the casino. He fired shots into the ceiling and managed to scare off the gamblers and waitresses inside. Their mysterious support outside managed to wound Rede, but Cody and his other henchman were still in play, gunning down unlucky clones from below. The rest of the team soon ran out and fired at the commandos with everything they have, giving Fives his much needed breathing room. The clones standing on the top of the wall started roping down and began to surround them.

Rede was apprehended just a few meters away by Numa. It took the combined strength of hers and Waxer's to keep him from getting back up. Waxer pulled out his blaster and stunned him. At the same time, Fives was able to knock out his captive and dragged him back outside. He pointed his pistol at the commando's head and yelled out with all his might. "It's over buddy. Maybe just save your strength and start talking. If you don't drop your weapons, he dies." But the answer he received was far outside his expectations. "What makes you think I care about Darman?" Fives sighed in frustration. _I almost felt bad for him. Almost._

He threw Darman onto the stairwell and fired several rounds at him, but missed him by inches in purpose in hopes to force the commandos to surrender. The commandos finally dropped their weapons when Ezra and the rest of the clones surrounded the crates. A figure in a set of blue-striped clone armour and kama marched out behind the clones. He stepped forward to cuff the commandos, only to receive a punch on his chin. And before he knew it, the rest of the clones were knocked out by the two.

Cody was left with no choice but to abandon his teammate. The clones got on their feet and held his henchman on the ground. Ezra and his team sprinted towards the crowd and found the blue figure. "Thanks for the help. But if we don't catch the last one, he's gonna call in an entire battalion." Said Ezra. The figure removed his helmet and patted his shoulder heavily. "That...was Cody. He means business." Ezra's mouth dropped, he couldn't believe even captain Rex was here to help him. And that only meant one thing: the others are well on their way. "How did you even get here? And who are these guys?"

"Don't you recognise them general? They are the clones you rescued on Kamino. With a bacta tank, it's enough for them to heal during the ride from Kamino to Garel." Replied Rex. "We gotta get moving, or this place is going to look like Coruscant." Ezra nodded and picked out a group of three clones. "Rex, take the wounded with you. Get back to our ship and jam his communications. Fives, take three of the best men here and lockdown the spaceport. Waxer, go with Numa and secure the long range comms tower. Ordo, come with me. We'll track down this bantha fodder together."

Meanwhile, aboard the Kanera...

A frequent beep rang through the bridge of the dreaded battleship. Commander Sato walked up to the source of the racket and activated the hologram. "This is captain Rex. We have captured squad 40, but its commander is still on the run. I believe he may have called in imperial reinforcements..." Sato cut him off and agreed to send his ship, along with two CR90s, to assist him. He then activated the ship broadcast and announced his new mission. "Attention all hands. This is commander Sato. Set coordinates for Garel. Battle stations."

Moments later, the Kanera, Liberator, and Valkyrie diverted from the rest of the fleet, and jumped into hyperspace.


	23. Chapter 23: Heroes reunite

Galactic date: 3 February, 1 BBY

Location: Garel

Ezra was running after Cody. After a long search, one of the patrols finally had eyes on the evasive commander. Now, he has to capture him before he could send a distress signal to the whole imperial armada. He pulled out his twin pistols and started firing at him, followed by his partner Ordo. The commander was agile, though, and managed to avoid every bolt flying towards him.

"He's headed for the spaceport! We have to stop him now!" Shouted Ezra. "Too late! They're here!" Ordo pointed at the stormtroopers on the top of the buildings. Soon, dozens of red blaster bolts hurtled towards the two, what made things worse was the radio chatter that came seconds later. "This is Delta 1! We've got Bucketheads surrounding our cruiser! Where the hell are you?"

"Just hang in there! Reinforcements are on their way!" Ezra then ordered a quarter of the clones to head back to the ship and buy them time to lift off. "We're still in pursuit! If you don't think you can hold them off, leave us here!" He yelled as he wall-rided around the corner and got a clean shot at Cody, startling the civilians around. He ducked behind a crate and returned fire, but was caught off guard when Ezra ignited his lightsaber and deflected every last bolt.

Ordo, who was behind Ezra, managed to score a lucky hit on Cody's arm. He grunted and got back on his feet. Ezra ran out of the alley and into open ground, only to find himself surrounded by hundreds of stormtroopers. Moments later, Ezra was caught in a rain of blaster fire, forcing him to abort his mission and retreat into the alley. "All units, this is Spectre 6, mission abort. Get back to the Nexus Claw ASAP." Ordered Ezra.

After multiple skirmishes with the stormtroopers, the two finally managed to make their way back to the ship, or unfortunately, what's left of it. The rest of the clones were pinned just below the wreckage, with several clones lying behind them. Ezra quickly dashed to the nearest stormtrooper and cut him in half, along with several other stormtroopers with him. He hopped from one spot to another, making it very difficult for the Imps to gun him down.

Ordo managed to sneak by the crowd while Ezra was unleashing his killing spree not far away. He legged it back to the circle and started picking off stormtroopers from all directions. Walkers and transports were joining the fight and was tearing the clones apart. "We can't hold them off forever! We have to break through!" Shouted Rex. "I don't think that's necessary anymore, captain!" A trooper pointed at a Corellian VCX overhead. Its turrets rotated and unloaded a cluster of cannon rounds and rockets into the walkers and the stormtroopers below.

The ramp of the Ghost lowered, and a hooded figure with a darksabre leaped out and cut down the remaining stormtroopers. Ezra and the clones watched in awe as the stormtroopers fell one by one. After the last of the imperials was dead, the figure extinguished the darksabre and walked towards Ezra. To his surprise, the figure threw his arms around him, or more like, _her_ arms. Both of them were lost for words, and it stayed that way for a long time, until Ezra finally broke the silence. "I'm sorry." He whispered. The figure pushed him back slightly and removed her T-shaped helmet. "Don't be." Their lips slowly made contact, giving them a pleasure they haven't had for a long, long time.

A while later...

The Kanera hovered above the space of Garel, waiting for the return of the Ghost. Kanan, Zeb, and several clones and officers stood in the hangar, waiting anxiously for good news from the surface. Eventually, the Ghost emerged ahead of the ship, and sped towards its hangar for a landing. The ramp of the shuttle was lowered, and everyone walked out with a rather exhausted face. Ezra held his helmet in his arms, and approached the hulking Lasat. "Never thought I'd do this for anything." Zeb gave Ezra a squeezing hug that almost crushed his bones. "Good to see you too. Big guy."

"Master." He continued as he walked towards Kanan. "It's good to see you." Kanan placed his prosthetic arm on his shoulder. "I never liked clones in my life. But I'm glad you saved those men. For that, I'm proud of you." He gave his apprentice a nod and everyone headed back to their quarters for some much needed rest.

A month later...

Ezra was having a meeting in the bridge of the Kanera. He and the other commanders of Phoenix squadron were gathered around a hologram. With the imperial commandos in custody on Alderaan, the crew can now focus their efforts on their new task: to return to Lothal. "So far, we've been hitting the Empire's extremities on Lothal. It cripples them, but it never lasts." Kanan pointed out.

"From my experience, the best way to take a planet is to rally the support of its people. My young friend here proved it on Mandalore." Said Kal. Ezra ran a finger down his chin and chimed in. "Kanan, you still remember the reason we had to leave Lothal?" Kanan stared at him, believing that his apprentice is working on an idea. "The Empire framed us for the murder of minister Tua, am I wrong?"

"Exactly." Replied Ezra. "She has quite a lot of fans, right? I'm thinking, if we can prove the Empire was behind her assassination, the people would turn against them." He continued. "That's easier said than done general, we don't even know if they have ANY paperwork about it." Sato argued, but he had to agree when Ahsoka displayed an image of a bounty hunter on the hologram. "Trayvis. He's the key. He knows about every imperial operation on Lothal, or at least he knows where to get it."

"How did you know this?" Kanan asked in confusion. "Starkiller. He told me when he was meditating." Replied Ahsoka. The crew looked at each other in agreement, knowing this is probably the only way. "So how do we even get close to him?" Asked Ezra. "That's where you and your friend will come in. Trayvis has plenty of hired guns, including Boba Fett. Hunter, playboy, that kind of thing."

"Right, then I got something we could use." Sato finished Kal's sentence and switched the image on the hologram to a building. "This Boba Fett is holding a dance party on Naboo. If you can get inside and finesse Trayvis' location out of him, it would make our job a hell of a lot easier."

"I'll be coming with you, just in case. It's 18 hours from now, so get some rest and be ready. May the force be with you." Said Kanan.


	24. Chapter 24: Naboo, covert op

Galactic date: 4 February, 1 BBY

Location: Valkyrie

Ezra was sitting in the edge of his bed, staring at his old team photo. It was quite rugged by now, but it was a milestone of their growing rebellion. He heard the door hiss, and outside stood the Mandalorian he had been expecting. "We still have at least a few hours before we get to Naboo." Said Sabine. Ezra sighed in defeat, waiting for long hours was never his flavour. All he wanted was to get his job done, fast.

"Looks like we got plenty of time to kill. I hate the waiting, makes me have a nervous wreck." Replied Ezra. "You got any ideas?" He continued. Sabine smiled and sat down beside Ezra before answering. "Well...I could use some company." Ezra smiled back and pulled Sabine closer to him. "For as long as you want, dear."

A few hours later...

Ezra blinked slightly and sat up on his bed. He was wearing nothing but the lower part of his body glove. He glanced around the room, and saw Sabine standing at the window. "Look who finally decided to get off his bed." Said the Mandalorian. Ezra chuckled and walked up to her. "You won't get pregnant right?" He asked after a few seconds. "Not unless you want to." She paused to read the incoming message on the built-in datapad on her arm. "Come on. It's time."

Minutes later, a nu-class shuttle detached from the corvette and headed for the surface of Naboo. Inside was the two jedi Knights in their clone armor. Accompanying them was Hera and Sabine. The twi'lek pilot had a pair of hand guard around her arm for her disguise as a bounty hunter. The shuttle landed in a spaceport just utside the target building, and the four walked out of the shuttle towards the entrance. Apparently everyone was welcome to the party, because the team entered without a sweat. "All right, we're in. Get to work." Ordered Kanan.

"You got it." Answered Ezra. Sabine went and grabbed a cup of cocktail from a waitress. "I got eyes on Boba. Sabine," Ezra took a deep breath before he finished his sentence. "be yourself. Like when you attracted me in the nose turret." Soon, the Mandalorian noticed an armored figure chatting with a few twi'lek ladies, and got his attention in no time. "How you doin', beautiful?"

"Would've been better if you're distributing moonshine instead." Sabine replied seductively. Ezra glanced at the scene from afar. "Hey, don't wanna make it too easy for him." Ezra grinned. Boba was taking the bait. "I'm Boba Fett, the most famous bounty hunter in the galaxy. Now, I must answer some very important messages, perhaps we can...talk in private later?"

"Don't buy it Spectre 5. Get his attention." Kanan whispered at the corner where no one really noticed him. Ezra walked up to her, and placed his hand on her cheek. "Just taking my chances. Don't hit me." He said as he gently planted his lips on hers, attracting several other bounty hunters that stood nearby. He pulled himself back slowly a few seconds later. "I'll be upstairs."

Sabine's comlink crackled to life almost right after Ezra was out of sight. "That your boyfriend?" Said a hazy voice from the other end. "You can say that." Replied Sabine. "He's good, but not your type. He's cold, unlike me. I'm on fire." Boba whispered. "Heard you have a big stack of weapons across the galaxy." Said Sabine. "Indeed. I'm upstairs. Find me."

"He's at your nine." Whispered Ezra. Sabine turned her head left, and noticed the bounty hunter leaning on the fence above her. She walked up the stairs and joined Boba, and soon disappeared behind a door behind them.

Ezra crossed his arms and waited until a familiar voice called out from beside him. "You are a smart one, Bridger." Said the voice. Ezra turned around, and found himself staring at the Ghost crew's most hated enemy: agent Kallus. "So even an imperial scumbag gets his leave." Ezra said casually, trying to hide the shock he just received. "Wish it was a shore leave." Kallus sighed and swallowed the glass in his hands.

"Just like old times. Two factions in the galaxy going head to head, another freaking day in the office. It numbs you, from questioning." Said Ezra. "Maybe. One day you're in the spotlight and the next day you're just another cannon fodder. That's what I think life is like." Replied Kallus. "To this broken galaxy." He said as he raised his hand with a pint her glass in it.

"To freedom." The two raised their arms and swallowed their glasses. "Good luck." Said Kallus sarcastically. Ezra watched him leave, and hailed Sabine through the comlink. "Spectre 5, now's the time. Beat his ass and get the intel we need!" No one answered. "Spectre 5, do it now! Kallus is here!"

Sabine was walking down a hallway filled with all kinds of delusions with Boba. "From the most common, to experimental. Old, new, you name it." Said Boba as he quietly slipped his hand on Sabine's back and slowly sliding it downwards, but was stopped when Sabine gripped his hand tight with no warning, painful enough to stop him in his tracks.

"Spectre 1, something's up. We lost contact with Spectre 5. Advise you to get out of here, quietly." Said Ezra. "Too late. We got multiple Imps at the entrance, along with walkers." Replied Kanan. "There must be another way out. Find one, I'm going after Sabine."

"We are alone here, right?" Asked Sabine. "We are." Answered Boba, he was clearly hungry. "Good." But the next thing he knew, he was pinned down by the Mandalorian, with a blaster pointing at his head. "Where is senator Trayvis? Tell me or this will your last breath." Boba was knocked out once she heard a whisper from him.

Sabine headed back outside and ran into Ezra moments later. "You got his location?" He asked anxiously. "Yeah. Coruscant, tomorrow afternoon, at the senate building. How's that?" Returned Sabine. "Talk about that later. Right now we need to find a way out. Entrance is filled with bucket heads."

"Has that ever scared us before?" Sabine shot back. Ezra tapped her shoulder and pointed at a garrison of stormtroopers with Z-6 rotary cannons barging in. "Maybe this time it did." The next thing they knew, it was a massacre and the only way out was blocked. People clamored and trampled onto one another, bolstering the head count. Ezra managed to repel the first wave, but was forced to duck behind a plant when a second marched forward relentlessly.

Sabine flipped her pack and sent a dozen of concussion charges rolling towards the stormtroopers. The ground exploded, leaving the imps either dead or whining on the floor. "All Spectres radio check." Ordered Kanan. "This is spectre 5, I read you loud and clear." "Spectre 6 here Charlie Lima. Where's Hera?" No one responded. "Damn. I bet Kallus did this. I'm gonna go grab that Bantha fodder." Kanan scowled.

"Very well. Sabine, get to the shuttle! We'll go after Hera!" Sabine nodded and hopped up on an enemy walker while the two Jedi ignited their lightsabers and cut down every stormtrooper in their way. "I got a fix on her position. Shite, they're headed for the spaceport! Sabine, cut'em off!" The two sprinted towards the spaceport without even thinking of stopping. Eventually, they arrived at the spaceport, only to see the Mandalorian unleashing devastating blows on Kallus with her darksabre.

"She's right there! Right there!" Kanan exclaimed as he made a dash at the imperial shuttle that was about to lift off. He jumped in, and murdered every officer on board. Moments later, he jumped back out with his twi'lek wife and left the shuttle to crash a few hundred yards away. He turned around, and noticed the imperial enforcer on the ground, defeated.

Two hours later...

The Spectres gathered around a Dejarik table on board the Ghost. On the table was a hologram displaying the image of the senate building. "The senate building. Did I hear it right?" Kanan exclaimed. "Yup. But you don't actually have to get in the building to find him. Just wait him out at the garage. He'll show up eventually." Replied Sabine. "So how do we even get on Coruscant? There's a whole armada surrounding the planet. No way the fleet's gonna break through." Said Hera.

"What about the carrier?" Asked Ezra.


	25. Chapter 25: Battle scars

"The carrier?!" Hera exclaimed. "What happens to our fighters?" "We have the Kanera, _and_ the Darksider. The space is more that enough to house our fighters. Besides, it's probably our only ticket to the surface without getting shot at." Answered Ezra. Zeb groaned in defeat and slapped the table. "Should've robbed another shuttle instead of going with this carrier rust bucket."

"Even if we are lucky enough to get to the surface, how are we supposed to get past all the troops in the shipyard?" Asked Sabine. "We don't." A old voice piped up from the hallway. The crew turned around, and saw Rex dragging a set of Blaze armor inside. "What, is that?" Demanded Kanan.

"Something capable of destroying an entire army. I used it once, on Kamino." Ezra said as he helped Rex lift up the suit. "I'm sorry, Ezra. But I'm not letting you go." Kanan took a deep breath before finishing his sentence. "I know your home is just another outer rim planet, but it needs you. The people need you."

Rex moved out of the hallway and revealed the torgruta Jedi behind him. "I'll help you get what you need, Ezra. Go prep yourself. I'll contact you when I have the proof." Ezra was reluctant about the idea at first, but after a few kind words from Sabine and his master, he eventually agreed. "Ahsoka, are you sure you can do this alone?" Asked Ezra.

"I can't. So I'm taking the Bad Batch." Replied Ahsoka. "I should brief them now. May the force be with you, Ezra." She smiled and departed the Ghost with Rex in front of her. "And you." Returned Ezra. Minutes later, the imperial carrier diverted from the rebel floatilla, and disappeared in a flash.

Ezra stood at the window of his cabin, eyes focused on the carrier and its A-wing escort as it jumped into hyperspace. Sabine walked up to him, and quietly slipped her hand into his. "My turn to say it's gonna be a big day, for you." She whispered. "It's gonna be one of the hardest missions I've ever accepted. I...I just have so many thoughts, my parents, my master, my allies and enemies...they just...keep playing over and over again in my mind."

"It feels like it's the end, but it isn't. I don't even know what's going to happen after this." He continued. "Whatever happens..." Sabine gave him a kiss before finishing her sentence. "...I'll be there for you. Now get ready. You gotta brief your team."

Ezra walked down the Ghost's ramp slowly. His thoughts were a mixture of joy and sorrow, drowning and taking over his mind. Somehow he couldn't control it, like he did on his rescue mission on Lola Sayu. Before he knew it, he was just meters away from the Ghost crew, along with Rex, Gregor, and Waxer.

"You seem a little shaken up, general." Commented Rex. "Yeah." Ezra exhaled deeply before he placed a hologram in the middle of the circle. He activated it and revealed a schematic of the rebuilt Bridger tower. "The Empire has built another comm tower on Lothal. Whatever Ahsoka gets is gonna be broadcasted across the planet from there. Now, the bucketheads there have a whole army's worth of security on the ground, so we'll have to do this the old fashioned way. We jump."

"Once we touchdown on the tower, we'll begin the broadcast, and get out with rocket packs. Then we'll RV with the fleet and vanish. This op is green when Ahsoka has the intel. Keep in mind, this all happens fast, and quick." Kanan finished. "Now we just have to grab some weapons and wait for the call."

Meanwhile...

A Quasar Fire-carrier jumped out of hyperspace above Coruscant, followed by two A-wing star fighters in hot pursuit. Hunter got on the comms and hailed the blockade surrounding the planet. "This is captain Flint, we're under attack. I repeat, we're under attack and are suffering heavy damage. Requesting permission to dock at shipyard 2 for repairs." The blockade responded seconds later with a message and a squadron of TIE fighters. "This is star destroyer Dominate. Permission granted. We'll cover you."

"Copy that. Blue 2 and 3, we'll take it from here. Get out of there." Ordered Hunter. The carrier accelerated towards the surface while the A-wings turned around and jumped into hyperspace. "Crosshair, get the blaze. Tek...be careful out there." Said Hunter. "Will do, sergeant." Replied Tek. Soon, the carrier landed in the shipyard, and Ahsoka and the Bad Batch gathered inside the hangar. " Are you sure you can creep past them, general?" Asked Hunter.

"I've done things like these before." Replied Ahsoka. "May the force be with you." The chatter from the stormtroopers got closer, and soon a containment crew was inside the ship's hangar. "Crosshair, light'em up!" Shouted Hunter. A cluster of rockets hurtled towards the stormtroopers, knocking them out. The Bad Batch ran outside and unleashed a killing spree, giving Ahsoka a perfect opportunity to sneak past enemy lines and into the senate building.

"We just have to keep the buckets occupied long enough!" Yelled Hunter. Ahoska activated her cloak device and creeped past the stormtroopers and into a parking lot. There, she stole a speeder and headed towards the senate building, undetected. "Hunter, blow the ship and find a shuttle. We need to be ready when I'm back." Ordered Ahsoka. Wrecker grinned under his helmet and pulled out a detonator. The next thing they knew, the carrier was blown into smithereens.

Ahsoka cautiously parked her vehicle outside the senate building. She creeped past the crowd and managed to get internal without alerting any senate guards. "I'm in. Trying to track down Trayvis." She whispered. Commander Sato, who has been listening to the chatter the whole time, panted in relief. "Make it quick Commander Tano. The clones can't hold their ground forever."

Ahsoka sensed some evil, and found out the source almost immediately. It wasn't Palpatine or Vader, there was fear, but no anger, or hate, just fear, lots of fear. It was Trayvis himself, jus a few meters ahead of her. She casually walked up to him and waited until no one was nearby. "You will give me everything about the assassination of minister Tua." She whispered and waved her hand over Trayvis' forehead. He was instantly hypnotised, and he just stood there like a statue. "I will give you everything about the assassination of minister Tua."

"Deep beneath layers of security protocols, there is a file: Order 67. Inside it is all the assassination records of foreign leaders. You will find it in the capital archives on Lothal." Ahsoka then left the stunned Trayvis standing there and quickly headed back to her stolen speeder. You guys heard that? It's inside the archives on Lothal! Ezra, you have the green light!"

"You heard commander Tano. All hands, battle stations! Deploy grey squadron and prepare to jump into hyperspace!" Ordered Sato.


	26. Chapter 26: Lightning strike

Galactic date: 5 Feb, 2 BBY

Location: Low Lothal orbit

The Imperial Navy's comms chattered drastically as the light cruiser blockading the terrestrial planet of Lothal was pulled down by its gravity, after suffering a critical hit from the laser of the red prototype B-wing. What took its place was a squadron's worth of A-wings and B-wings, followed by the massive Venator-class destroyers surrounded by blockade runners and gunships.

Ezra stood inside the passenger compartment of a LAAT gunship with a squad of troopers. Sabine was in the other gunship with Kanan, and Hera was in charge of keeping them covered from the sky, accompanied by Zeb and the rest of Green squadron. Despite being the most annoying being within Phoenix Squadron, Ezra decided to take Chopper along with him, since he understood that the mission's requirement of hacking weighted more than his personal ego.

"Make it quick general. Those debris are going to attract a lot of attention." Pointed commander Sato as several A-wings split up with the main wing and escorted the gunships past the flaming light cruiser and into the atmosphere. "Yes commander." Ezra replied and donned his helmet, and so did the troopers inside the gunship, including captain Rex and Gregor.

A thunderstorm happened to be just below the gunships and on top of the comms tower, making the ground forces' ride a lot bumpier all of a sudden. "I suggest you hold on to something Ezra!" Kanan said through his helmet's comlink, after a lightning came out of nowhere and barely missed the hull of his LAAT gunship. "We will general. Time for you to jump." Replied Rex as the first gunship burned past the comms tower at maximum speed and continued its descend.

The second gunship decelerated, and seconds later four ropes from either side of the gunship were stretched out to the top of the tower, allowing its passengers to offload and get to work before the Empire responds. "Delta squad on deck. Good luck Ezra." Kanan said as Ezra and Rex's gunship sped away, with four A-wings and two B-wings trailing close behind in a V formation.

"Green flight, we're coming in low. This will avoid detection and buy us some time." Stated Hobbie, the pilot of the bulky Old Republic gunship. "Thanks. Gonna be a rough fight people. Let's make sure we didn't lose our loved ones in vain!" Ezra encouraged, which led to a surprisingly positive response of everyone listening shouting out with courage.

It was a long way to go from the comms tower to the archives located in the capital, but that wasn't a problem for aircrafts capable of achieving subsonic speed, especially when its pilots know a crucial mission is at hand: expose the Empire's assassination on Maketh Tua and spread uncertainty and an eventual rebellion among the people, and hopefully even within the Empire's ranks.

But the flight wasn't even halfway there when a squadron of TIE fighters launched a counterattack from above, hitting one of the B-wings and rendering it trailing black smoke, making ti an easy target even while it's night and raining. "Green 3, hard left, hard left!" A pilot barked, and in response Green3 managed to avoid the armor piercing rounds from the eyeball fighter, and bought the pilot an extra moment to fight.

The gunship ignored the frenzy going on around it and continued to sail along and above the highway to the capital, occasionally lighting up its front cannons as an act of self-defense. Minutes later Hobbie activated the rocket launchers on top of the gunship as well, launching a barrage of missiles and tearing the ground infantry below into pieces as the gunship hovered above the ground forces' landing zone.

The archive center had a similar look of a standard imperial airfield, with two lines of TIE fighter parked on either side of the road to its entrance and two defense pods marching to and fro its doors, except all of which were reduced to nothing but metal scrap by the gunship's high explosive rockets. Ezra led the troopers out, and paced towards the ray-shielded entrance while finishing off the last pockets of guards crawling on the floor.

"Hold up. Give me a moment." Ezra ordered, intending to deactivate the ray shield with his Force powers. He wouldn't have been able to do that two years ago, and had to rely on his tools and gadgets to breach a security door, but today his powers were far stronger than Kanan or any Spectre could imagine, which resulted in him being able to spearhead certain operations and carry less gear into battle.

Ezra shut his eyes and concentrated on his midi-chlorians, while Rex, Gregor and the rest of his squad kept an eye on his back and set up a choke point outside the doors as a precaution. Everyone knew that such a daring assault on one of the most well-defended facilities on Lothal would certainly attract a lot of imperial attention, especially if their blockade was wiped out in such a quick and strategic way.

Soon the ray covering the glass doors thinned, and eventually faded into nothingness, allowing Rex to shoot open the glass and lead the squad inside with his general ahead of him, ready to block incoming fire with his lightsaber if ever necessary.

The resistance was heavy inside the complex, and unfortunately for Ezra he couldn't block every shot coming from the desperate stormtroopers waiting for them around pretty much every corner and stairwell. A clone had already sustained damage on his thigh plate by a lucky shot from a stormtrooper, and another pair was wounded by an unsuspected claymore planted on the ceiling.

Neither of these gimmicks managed to take its toll on the squad's morale, however, and after a few minutes of intense close quarter battle they found themselves entering a room filled with high-tech machinery and consoles, with a small reserve of ammunition packed nicely and neatly on a gun rack just beside the door. "Alright Chopper. It's your showtime." Ordered Ezra. The droid complied and responded with a few muted and deep beeps as it moved towards a central console in the room, where its user could get a glimpse of every analog file sitting on the other side of the glass in front of the console.

"Kanan, I hope you got your script ready. I'm transmitting the file to you, are you ready to receive?" Ezra asked as soon as Chopper pulled out the file from its original resting place and unplugged it, revealing a memory card with a few golden bars on it. "You're good to go Ezra. Be advised, TIE fighter are headed your way. They look like new models. Be on your guard. Out." Kanan replied sharply as he hastily pieced the broadcasting system back together inside the dim sphere room sitting on the top of the skyscraper, with roars of A-wings and other ships he couldn't tell getting louder and weaker again every once a while.

As soon as Kanan and Delta squad got the file Kanan started his broadcasting. He wasn't a good speaker, but the fact that there was a lot to tell about the dirty work by the Empire made him a lot less nervous all of a sudden, as if he was just doing his things casually on an ordinary day. None of Ezra's squad could hear the people's reaction from several stories above them, but their were damn sure their blood was boiling right now.

Moments later a sudden movement of the ground beneath the good commander shook them all off their feet. It didn't take a genius to figure out the source of the quake: TIE fighters, and they're really pissed off about what they're doing on Lothal.

 _Time to go. Hopefully Kanan makes it out in one piece._

The entire mission happened in less than fifteen minutes, and almost a third of the time they were fiddling with the consoles inside the archive room, and not fighting stormtroopers in close quarters. It was fast enough for Ezra's team to make a quick escape via the gunship they came in, but Kanan's position was prone to airstrikes and ground assault, and that was concerning Era more and more as the team made their way back to the surface.

They finally made it to the ground floor after a few minutes of climbing stairs like there was no tomorrow, but outside the glass doors a nasty surprise was awaiting them. A full detachment of stormtroopers and walkers were stationed outside, in addition to the three layers of barricades a squad of scout troopers and death troopers set up moments ago.

Even with the combined skills and firepower of Ezra and the clones, they're still vastly outnumbered, and probably under arrest considering the circumstances. The whole team now found themselves in a dilemma. If they fired as their instincts wished them to, they'll get slaughtered, but not without taking at least half of the garrison with them. Option two was much simpler, lowering their weapons and hope that the Empire isn't in the mood of killing today.

But any of those thoughts were eradicated when a wave of civilians brutally assaulted the rear of the garrison, throwing them into a complete chaos, along with the rest of the planet.

 _We did it._ Ezra thought. _Now time to figure out how to get out of this shit-show._


End file.
